Uzumaki's Love
by netesy
Summary: The fate of Karin following her arrival in Konoha after Sasuke's fight with Danzo and how her life might just change the entire Ninja world
1. The Red-Haired Captive

**Author Notes:**

Well this is my first fic so please bear with me,

and this story was adapted from D-sparil Spiral heart

s/6466709/1/Spiral-Heart

If the first few chapters are the same word for word that's because I used his beautifull work.

Character Portrayal: Some characters will get particularly harsh treatments. Notably Sakura. Life does not continue to go well for her and if you can't handle that (as a big Sakura-fan) then you probably don't want to read this because this work reflects what the author feels would actually be going on as a result of all her recent actions.

Literary Divergence: This story takes place immediately following the events of Chapter 489 "On the Brink of World War!" of Naruto. Events preceding this are considered valid and canon for the most part (barring unforeseen prior events that the author cannot specifically recall), there are some changes that will occur, but these are changes of 'future' events and manipulation of possibility; NOT manipulation of entire events. Following Chapter 489, any events, personality reveals, character reveals, etc.; may (or may not) be changed drastically. If you cannot handle changes of immense measure, this story is not for you.

Conclusive Work: This story is intended to conclude the Naruto series in a separate fashion from the original manga/anime. As a result, this work will end in a likely VERY different fashion from Naruto.

Content is Mature: Don't like seeing characters hurt emotionally and physically? This isn't for you. Don't like death and romance? This isn't for you. Long story short, are you mature? If yes, read on. If no, find something else because I won't be pulling my punches with some harsh moments.

Omission: Some characters aren't going to be making appearances... or they'll be minor if they do. Someone like Konohamaru... probably not gonna show up much. Healing will be done off-focus when it is not plot important. I don't need (and you probably don't want me) to put in a page of healing every time someone is injured unless it is important and relevant.

Italics: These are used to generally represent a character's thoughts. They should be more or less self-explanatory.

**End Author Notes**

**Naruto: Uzumaki Reawaking **

_Chapter 1: _The Red-Haired Captive

Karin was in the midst of telling her sad sob story to the interrogators when the man with the scars cut her off. _Damn, the dull one was starting to buy it!_ she thought as the scarred one told her to stop telling a life story (and a false one at that) and to tell him about Sasuke and Kabuto. He even reprimanded the dull one who was falling for her fake tears and sobs. _Well, there goes my odds of getting out of this as a victim. Now I am going to be a victim of Konoha._ she chuckled in her head while her stomach grumbled. Oh well, enough with the ruse, time for the direct approach…

"Bah! Fine, but I've got conditions of my own." she said, dropping her act in under five seconds, the tears and sobs gone and a bored look covering her face. After all, what could Konoha do in comparison to what Orochimaru had threatened before? Nothing she was afraid of, that was for certain. The dull one got a look of outrage on his face at her statement and she smirked, knowing that outrage wasn't just from her audacity but from the fact that she'd made a fool him. "Conditions?" he shouted, as though the mere idea of negotiating with a captive was insanity. She rested her head on a propped-up hand on the table: "Number one, I'm starving. You give me some breaded pork and rice and then we'll talk!" The scarred one smiled, the dull one kept going irate until the scarred one waved him off, no doubt sending him to get the food much to his added humiliation.

"What else?" the scarred one said, clearly amused by the situation but with an air of confidence that showed he completely controlled the interrogation still. It daunted her a bit and she straightened her glasses, regaining her composure instead of looking bored. She'd only done that to further infuriate the dull one, but he was gone now. _Hmm, what do I ask for within reason?_ she thought. "Okay, number two, I'm not executed or held indefinitely in a jail-cell." and again he gave that knowing and amused look. "Agreed, but you'll be held in Konoha until we've resolved the crisis or until other circumstances arise that dictate otherwise."

_What the hell does that mean?_ she thought, but quickly shook herself out of it, _must mean something to do with Sasuke, yeah, he comes from here originally_. She put a finger to her lips in thought for a moment and then added, "Finally, number three, I'll be upfront with you on everything I know provided you in turn keep me protected from anyone who comes looking for me." The scarred man only gave the briefest look of being startled before his face became amused and impassive again. "Agreed then. I can't imagine them coming here just to clear up one loose end, but your safety here is assured."

Ibiki listened to her information, explaining everything she knew about Orochimaru bases, Kabuto's experiments and goals, Sasuke and his recent activities; all while chewing on the food she'd been brought. _Cutting her own losses, clever girl, we could make use of that_. He thought to himself, but kept quiet, a hand pressed flat against a pile of chakra paper, using a technique that was recording everything she said (or rather, the interpretations and information he needed from it) onto the paper page-by-page. He only occasionally asked for clarification or additional information, she was either giving him the most elaborately constructed lies imaginable or she was honoring her end of the agreement by being entirely honest.

She ran a hand through her red hair, always on the unkempt side to avoid mussing the smoothed side, as she spoke. She spoke at length, knowing only the quality of her information would determine how favorable the attitude she received was. She held no illusions that the scarred interrogator was bound to honor any agreements he made. The fact that he'd provided food only meant he knew his trade well; a well fed captive is far more amicable and easier to work with… and if she turned out useless, it'd probably double as a last meal or act as a reminder of what she could get if she was useful.

Either way, she didn't care. She had no loyalties to Orochimaru who was slain, or imprisoned… or something; she hadn't quite grasped completely what had happened to him the way Sasuke explained it (what little of it he had). All she knew was that her former master was out of the picture for good. As for Kabuto, well, she'd never liked him. He was almost more treacherous than Orochimaru and that wasn't an easy feat. He always skulked around in a position of nigh-invincibility. He wasn't worth being possessed as a body for Orochimaru and his knowledge and skills made him invaluable to keep around. In short, he was untouchable and Orochimaru's favorite. Two things that had combined to make him a total asshole to deal with. _Of course, it didn't help that he was damned clever; he always looked at my techniques and experiments with that smirk like he'd already done all of it._ She shook her head a bit and swallowed another bite of food as she kept talking.

Besides, what would the leaf do with Orochimaru and Kabuto's research and labs? Absolutely nothing. _No different than giving a sword to a pacifist_. She covered a chuckle with another bite of food. No, Konoha would not be using the formula to produce Cursed Seals even if they found the means. With Jugo gone there'd even be limited amounts of the necessary ingredients remaining. In short, she wasn't worried about giving up any 'super secret weaponry' because Konoha wouldn't use it. Their silly "will of fire" would keep them from using almost everything in Orochimaru's various lairs. The most they'd get is a few captives who'd probably gone insane, already escaped, or had died in their unwatched cells.

That left only one thing which she just started to talk about to the scarred man… Uchiha Sasuke. She'd left it for last, knowing full well this is what they wanted to know about most. He was probably the second biggest threat in the world at the moment, the first being his new 'mentor'. _I wish I could say I felt bad about this, like it was some kind of betrayal… but it's pretty clear Sasuke doesn't care if I live or die anymore. Hell, he was ready to kill me through his friend. _She shook her head sadly, not bothering to hide it behind any other gestures or acts. _Lost cause. Ja ne Sasuke_. She thought in her mind, writing him off from her life. Handsome and powerful weren't enough to excuse his descent into blood-filled madness and darkness. He'd started off well enough, but ever since he went to kill Danzo at the Kage Summit, he just kept getting more and more dark until there was nothing left but an abyss of murderous hatred.

Ibiki had noticed her gestures and, since his technique was recording, he was observing her more than her information. He saw her react and thought to himself: _Good, she's written off her past. There's hope for her yet._ and kept observing quietly. Her information was startling though: Sasuke, always a liability due to his thirst for vengeance, had turned his ire against all of Konoha according to her. That meant he'd be probing their defenses or even trying an all out attack. She also made it clear she suspected Uchiha Madara of involvement in his descent to madness. The two together, the last surviving Uchiha clan members, would be a potent foe… but thankfully she'd made it sound like Sasuke despised his 'partner' and that Sasuke was always ignoring his decisions and orders. _If they don't cooperate, that's a relief, the last thing we need is them pooling their might_. He could tell she was nearing the end of her tale, and so returned his attention to her and not his thoughts.

_Now to see if my information was worth anything._ Karin thought as her information wound to a close. "That's all I know. Take it or leave it, torture me or not, there's nothing else I can tell you." she took a deep breath, her plate long since picked clean of anything but a few soggy grains of rice, and closed her eyes while picking over the food scraps she didn't even intend to eat; waiting for sentence.

"I believe you. All of it, in fact." the scarred man said, and then stood up. "I am going to fetch someone. I've decided on the arrangement for your foreseeable future here in Konoha. No objections or it's a jail cell or the gallows. Understand? This time you're not negotiating, you're being told how it's going to happen. Whether you're happy about it or not is your only choice in the matter." He then went to the door, knocked and said: "It's Ibiki." and the door opened, letting him pass, closing behind him and locking with a loud click.

She sighed as she was left alone. This was her life now, something in Konoha… she closed her eyes, trying to extend her sensing abilities for the first time since her confinement and got a large blankness. _Of course I'm in a chakra-sealed room. I should've realized. It seems they're going to put me to some use, but now what do I do? Maybe I should just be happy I'm still alive. I suppose I could try to pledge my loyalty to a ninja village, and Konoha's the best one right? Wouldn't be too bad to have a place to actually call home. Hah! Who am I kidding? Like they'd accept me! The only one who'd seemed to even give a crap I existed was that 'Naruto' guy. He was the only one who looked at me as anything other than a captive. But what was that darkness I sensed in him? It almost felt like it was…_ her thoughts were cut off as the door opened again. She had no idea how much time had passed, but it felt like it'd been ages, so she was happy to see anyone else at all.

Outside the room, Ibiki had approached the pink-haired girl named Haruno Sakura. He chuckled slightly while he stared at her, noting how much she'd changed since he'd overseen her first Chuunin Exam. _Ah well, enough time for reminiscing later, there's business to be taken care of_. "Do you know why I've called you here?" he asked her in the stern and unforgiving tone he always used. She shook her head 'no' and he continued: "It is because the girl you saved, a stray ninja by the name of Karin, is currently in our custody. Formerly of Kusagakure, she was abducted or inducted, if you wish to argue it, some time following that same Chuunin Exam into Orochimaru's service. After his death, she came to serve under Sasuke of her own volition. Now she's here and forsworn her former allegiances. Given her abilities, cooperation, and candidness, we're not going to detain, execute, or turn her back over to Kusagakure. As far as they know, she's dead. She also discarded her forehead protector ages ago, so she can't even be counted as a missing-nin since her origin only comes from our records and her stories. Likely Kusagakure considers her dead and returning her would only be a death sentence to her. A waste of resources that Konoha can't afford right now following the Pain incident and with war looming."

Sakura had listened with a puzzled face: what was Ibiki getting at? _He mentioned forsworn allegiances, will she help me find Sasuke again? _Sakura thought. She tried to forget the most recent encounter with him, had it not been for Kakashi and Naruto she'd probably have been killed… more than once… but she still felt that there was some way to bring Sasuke back. Naruto would be able to help her bring him back. She brought her attention back to Ibiki who continued to talk after he saw her attention return. "What do I have to do with this, sir?" Sakura asked, interrupting him.

"I was getting to that. Since you saved her life she'll be indebted to you," _and since you can no doubt empathize with her better than anyone else_, Ibiki thought while he paused, "and so we're putting you in charge of her. You'll watch her while we test her abilities and her information. When the higher-ups have decided what to do with her, she'll no longer be your charge; until then, however, she's going to your responsibility." Ibiki frowned when he saw the startled and disgusted look on Sakura's face. _Perhaps the same obsession would make them rivals instead? Oh well, not my decision to make, this is ordered from much higher up._ He put a hand on her shoulder: "I know you won't turn this down, Konoha needs you to do this. Besides, we aren't going to leave it all on you alone. She'll be forced to wear a tracking collar that'll monitor her chakra at all times. If she tries anything, we'll know where she's going and what she's doing."

Sakura shook her head violently _Why me? I don't want to do this! This isn't fair, why do I have to watch over her! Sigh… guess this will at least let me find out what I need to know_, her thoughts were still in a mess after recent events. She sighed again, this time aloud, and finally replied: "I accept. Let's go." She resigned herself to it, she didn't really know Ibiki, but knew that arguing with him would probably be a lost cause; and if the orders really came from higher up, then she had no chance of avoiding it anyway. Ibiki nodded his approval and opened the door to where Karin was being held.

"Oh, you're back… and…? Oh! It's you! The one who rescued me." Karin's face was impossible to read, but Sakura didn't like her tone… there was something condescending about it that she didn't understand. She frowned, but kept quiet; this was Ibiki's show for now. He approached Karin and set a small chrome collar on the table in front of her. "What's this?" the red-head asked, examining it for a moment before closing her eyes and focusing on it, opening them up a moment later again. "Oh… a tracking collar. Well, can't say I'm not familiar with that particular form of embarrassment. Everyone who serves Orochimaru wears one of these for at least a year. Yours at least look a good deal more comfortable."

Ibiki nodded and gave Sakura a nudge. "Go on, she's your charge now." Ibiki said, waiting for Karin to affix the collar to her own neck, putting it just below the collar on her coat so it remained out of sight after securing it. He added one last bit: "By the way, that collar is chakra-encoded to me. Until I've removed it, tampering won't do you any good." With that, he left, leaving the door ajar and the situation in Sakura's hands; though he was waiting right outside it, out of sight to make sure the two got along. Karin stared at the pink-haired girl for a moment and then smirked. "I get it, you're my caretaker, huh? Well, come on, I'm sure we can do proper introductions and the like outside of here. Besides, I'm sure you've got a nice cozy couch I can actually get some decent sleep on." She got up to leave the room but Sakura stepped ahead of her. "Let me lead, you don't know which way you're going." Sakura turned with a 'hmph' and led the way out. Karin just shrugged it off, no sense arguing with her over that, especially when she was right.

As they walked past, Ibiki nodded and let the pair pass, quietly observing but otherwise saying nothing. After they'd left the building, Karin stretched and yawned, despite the fact that it appeared to be noon. _You lose track of time so easily underground, you'd think I'd have gotten used to it in those cave hideouts I was in before… but being able to leave whenever I wanted stopped that._ She thought to herself, noting that her brief captivity and recovery had messed with her sense of time. She was tired like it was late at night, but decided not to complain, she had a better idea in mind.

"So… I could see it in you while you saved me. You like Sasuke don't you?" Karin threw the first of her barbed hooks at the pink-haired girl, trying to get a feel for her and not really minding if she stepped on some toes. Raw reactions were the most honest in her opinion. She got no response, but could see the stiffness in her 'guide'. "Hmm, 'like' isn't strong enough. Okay, so you love him. Have you two ever done anything together… like that?" she grinned, straightening her glasses with one hand and holding up her arm with the other folded across her midsection. _Oh my, that got a reaction, but she's trying desperately to appear calm…_ Karin decided to set one last hook out there to see if she could get a better measure of her 'caretaker'. "So I take it you've been unable to convince yourself that he's not worth it anymore, even after he tried to kill you?" That got a reaction from the pink-haired girl. She spun and gripped Karin's shoulder tight enough that it felt like it was going to break. A sharp intake of breath was all Karin allowed to betray her pain to the girl she'd been tormenting. _Which, I guess is kind of mean to her… but damn it, there she was crying over me about Sasuke while I lay next-to-dead in her hands. Like no one in the world could feel her pain or possibly empathize! I need to know you better than just that if I'm in your hands! The people here will probably judge me first through you! _Karin winced slightly as the grip tightened just a slight bit more.

"Let's get one thing straight. I'm not doing this because I like you… Karin? Was it?" _I'm doing this because you'll help me find out more about Sasuke._ Sakura kept the grip on the other girl's shoulder as she continued, "I don't want any attitude from you and I don't need you trying to bait me into being switched out as your 'caretaker'. I'm not going to show I'm incompetent to every other person in the village over you." Sakura snapped, thinking inwardly that she'd already betrayed a few friends and utterly failed at what she'd betrayed them to do. _Good job with that last part so far Sakura…_

Karin gave a genuine and mildly embarrassed sort of smile, "Sorry. I shouldn't have pushed you. I wasn't trying to make you look incompetent, I just wanted know a bit more about you; you're looking after me after all right? I've found you get the best measure of someone when they're upset or flustered." _As Suigetsu always managed to hit the nail on the head about my interest in Sasuke…_ "Anyone can put up an act; true emotion destroys those acts pretty quick. Also, I'm sorry, but I can't tell you anything more than what I told that scarred interrogator about Sasuke. 'Sides… you shouldn't want that anymore. I don't know your history… but he's not the Sasuke you probably knew anymore." Karin shook her head again as Sakura let her go with a 'huff' and kept walking. _Oh, guess that's a sore spot for her… oh well, guess I don't blame her_.

She followed quietly for a short while before quietly saying: "it is Karin, by the way." Sakura turned, taken aback slightly at the sincere tone of her voice. She seemed genuinely sorry for agitating her earlier. _That's new, guess she really did mean she was just trying to get a 'feel' for me. Damned odd way to do it, but I guess being stuck under Orochimaru for a while doesn't teach you courtesy as a first priority._ "Sakura," she replied, "it's Haruno Sakura… and we're almost there." Karin nodded and followed.

"Okay, Sakura, lead the way."

Naruto lay on the grass, a hill near Konoha but not anywhere near the main city where it was covered in trees and buildings. He was staring at the clouds as they passed overhead, seeing various things in them one second and not seeing them at all the next. He was lost in his own thoughts having confronted Sasuke again after such a long time. Although when compared to the years he spent training with Jiraiya it wasn't that long at all; Naruto felt like an eternity had passed since he saw him at Orochimaru's hideout. _All that darkness… killing Itachi brought more problems than it solved, didn't it?_ He sighed loudly, he had always felt there was only a small glimmer of hope that after his revenge Sasuke would go back to normal. That glimmer was gone now, but Naruto didn't find he missed it much, that had always been a long-shot in his mind and he had seen what happened to people like Gaara and Nagato. Revenge doesn't lead anywhere, it is just the door to a world of hatred. _Something I need to keep in mind if I'm going to bring about a world of peace._ Of course, Naruto felt that Madara's involvement had changed everything. The masked man must've affected Sasuke a great deal, he'd been right there after the death of Itachi… who knows what he'd done with Sasuke in such a vulnerable state. _But what did he do? What has Sasuke been doing, he was cold, sure, when I saw him last, but not that dark! What happened… wait-a-sec! That girl! She was with Sasuke! The one with the red hair, she traveled with him!_ Naruto sat upright as he had his revelation.

_Yeah… she must've been with him the whole time! Then… that'd mean she could tell me what happened to him! She was even there when he killed Itachi I bet!_ Naruto smiled, he had a lead to follow; and, though anyone else would've considered the situation hopeless, he was always being told those were the situations he did best in. I _never give up on anything and I swore I'd bring Sasuke back, I never go back on my word._ Naruto smiled and got to his feet to go find Kakashi. He'd know what had happened with the girl with red hair; he'd been carrying her after all. With just a bit of luck and maybe a lot of begging, the red haired girl would tell him more about Sasuke. He wondered whether or not she'd cooperate, but knew it didn't matter… he'd keep trying and asking until she did!

His bright mood carried him along the streets of Konoha even as it was being rebuilt around him following the destruction caused by the invasion of Nagato. _I'm not calling him Pain, he redeemed himself in the end and I won't forget that._ he reminded himself and kept walking, unable to be depressed by the destruction anymore because he saw the vibrant life around him. _He brought them all back, every last one, and I'm not gonna mourn any pile of wood or bricks!_ The only thing he'd worried about was the Ichiraku Ramen building, and, in light of his efforts to save the village, it had been one of the first things they'd rebuilt. Naruto was half-tempted to go and visit them but quickly shook his head. _No! Gotta find Kakashi first, then ramen… and lots of it!_

Naruto waited in the surprisingly undamaged Hokage's office. He'd been sent here by the first jounin he'd encountered while looking for Kakashi. For someone who'd been sitting in an uncomfortable chair waiting for the past thirty minutes he had a remarkably cheery expression. The reason for it was something he had not been aware of before arriving: Tsunade had revived. He'd only had minor details following the whole ordeal, but it'd been said she'd passed into a coma. Naruto had worried about her as much as he could spare attention to it. _I've been a bit busy, hope she won't mind me stopping in to see her about… well, something she'll probably think unimportant and a fools errand. _Naruto grinned and scratched the back of his head, a nervous tick when he was embarrassed or in a difficult situation. "Oh well," he said aloud since no one was in the room, "as long as she doesn't hit me I'm happy."

"Naruto?" an aide asked that had just entered.

"Yeah?" he replied, blinking twice. _There are people who still don't know me here in Konoha? Or maybe that's just a thing that they always do…_ he stood up and walked behind the aide as he led the way to the Hokage's office. The man ushered him into the room and had barely taken three steps away from the door when Naruto came flying back out and smashed into the wall with a resounding crash. He jumped in surprise, but quickly dashed off as that could only be the work of Tsunade's fists, and he had no desire to stay and earn any of that fury himself.

_So much for the not-hitting…_ Naruto picked himself up off the floor and dusted his shoulders, rubbing his nose to see if he was bleeding at all. He walked slowly back into the office, more wary this time. "What'd I do?" he asked, completely oblivious as to why he'd earned such a 'fond' welcome.

"Naruto. You're the Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails… explain to me why, when I woke up, I was given reports that you'd snuck off to the Kage Summit and then pursued Sasuke after he attacked the summit?" Her anger was apparent from the twitch in the corner of her eye as she waited for an answer. Naruto carefully stepped closer.

"Because I wanted to try and stop the Raikage from attacking Sasuke, I want to handle that situation, I said I would! I never go ba-" Tsunade lunged forward, but Naruto was ready and jumped back, his sentence was still interrupted and, before he could resume it, she cut him off.

"Naruto! Akatsuki wants you alive or dead! You've clashed with them multiple times! Why would you so recklessly endanger yourself leaving the village after they've shown they are clearly using everything they've got to bring you in? Don't you have any idea the kind of danger that puts yourself, and the ninja-world, in?" Naruto hung his head slightly, but then stared back up at her with determination.

"I've beaten two of them, one who we thought was their leader for the longest time. I wasn't alone, either, Kakashi and Yamato were with me the whole time! Besides, even the thought of me being in Konoha caused its destruction! Only a miracle kept that away. I understand you want me safe and out of harm's way with that Madara guy fully active… but I can take care of myself now too and I'm not going to let anyone kill Sasuke or let anyone capture me. I'll defend Konoha and my friends!" Tsunade waited, with arms folded while he replied. She nodded once when she saw he had no intent to back down at all and turned around, facing away from him and looking out the windows.

"Good. You're still the same Naruto. Wanted to make sure whatever went on while I was… unavailable… hadn't changed you for the worse." She turned, a smile on her face for the first time since he'd seen her in a very long while. "Now, I'm sorry for hitting you, but forgive this lady for worrying about the legacy of her friend, Jiraiya. If anything were to happen to you, I'd never be able to face that pervert when I meet him again." She smirked, "…and I suppose I should give you some more credit… you did defeat Pain aftera-" she stopped, seeing the frown form on his face, "I'm sorry, you defeated Nagato." There was an awkward silence for a moment before she continued. "So, what brings Konoha's most unpredictable ninja here, of all places?"

Naruto smiled, obviously excited to share his idea: "I'm here to ask about the red-haired girl we found with Sasuke. She's got to know more about what happened on his side of things. Stuff that Ibiki wouldn't find important enough to record, but may give me some idea as to what Sasuke's been up to!"

Tsunade listened patiently and chuckled a bit. "You underestimate our intelligence division just a bit Naruto, but you raise a fair enough point and you'll have the chance you want since you probably would know more of what she says in relation to Sasuke for its significance. Currently, Karin is being looked after by Sakura."

"Karin? Oh! That's her name… wait, she was that badly hurt?" Naruto looked puzzled, interrupting Tsunade with his obvious concern.

"No no, she's fine now, but we don't want to hold her in a jail cell. We're hoping that with Sasuke so clearly having betrayed and abandoned her and with Orochimaru out of the picture that she might eventually be of some use to Konoha." Tsunade sat back down in her chair and continued, "She's an extraordinarily talented sensor type with some extra abilities we're still figuring out. She has no home to go to and no friends yet here in Konoha so she's being looked after by Sakura until she can support herself. She'll also be undergoing some examinations to determine what she can and can't do." Tsunade nodded once, "is that satisfactory? Also, yes, you can go speak to her as much as you wish, however, there's a time limit."

"Huh? A time limit?" Naruto stared, eyes narrowing as he tried to figure out what she was referring to but already disliking the sound of it.

"Yes, you and the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki are to be sequestered far out of harm's way during the coming war since you're the objective of the enemy."

"Huh! C'mon Granny, you saw me fight, I rescued you even! Don't just toss me out of danger until everything is over! How can I bring Sasuke back like that? How am I even supposed to become Hokage if I'm off in some remote hideout while everyone else fights a war!"

Tsunade let out a 'tut' of frustration and continued as though Naruto hadn't spoken, "The Eight-Tails will be teaching you how to master your own inner demon as he has complete control of his. Pa-… Nagato's Invasion should've been lesson enough on how badly you need that. Especially if you want to bring Sasuke back in any way other than a body bag or ever become a Hokage that people can trust not to go berserk." _I'm being too hard on him, but he needs to hear it, it's the truth and nothing is going to change the decision anyway. It was agreed upon by more than just Konoha… if we back out now… no. We can't do that. Not before this war. We all need to work together, and that means you need to realize the importance of this; I'm sorry Naruto._ She genuinely felt apologetic, it wasn't quite fair to be so blunt, but she couldn't let him too heavily ride his success regarding Pain. His partial transformation in Konoha was devastating, even with Pain's technique obliterating so much of it. _It can't happen again!_ she thought and resolved herself not to give in or back down in front of him.

Naruto sighed and looked crestfallen. "Can't I train here?" he asked, a hopeful look appearing on his face.

"No, it'd be too dangerous. We lack the resources at the moment as well."

Again his face dropped and he nodded meekly in submission. "Alright… but… how much time do I have before I have to leave?"

Tsunade sighed loudly. _Geez, looking at him you'd think I'd asked him to give up being a ninja. There's got to be something I can do… _Tsunade racked her brain for a few long minutes of awkward silence as Naruto waited for an answer with patience born of sorrow. He had no desire to hear her answer anyway and so would not press her for it. "Tell you what, Naruto, if you agree to not leave Konoha… I mean not even go outside the city walls until you are ready to leave and join the Eight-Tails… then I can probably convince them to let you stay here as long as you like." She finally answered, quickly adding "within reason!" to the end to keep him from deciding to stay forever. "Probably the most I can get you is a month and even that would be pushing it."

Naruto threw a fist into the air as that familiar smile covered his face. "Thanks Granny-Tsunade!" and before she could object to the derogatory nickname, he had run over and hugged her. Surprised and somewhat confused as to how to react, Tsunade just sort of accepted it and let him run off on his merry way, glad no one had seen that. She decided afterwards that, considering she punched him, it was only fair to let that go and call it 'even'. She shuffled the paperwork on her desk, sighed once, and then set about the troublesome business of coming up with a reasonable excuse for 'detaining' Naruto slightly longer. _Some false concern about a heroism festival or feast-thing to honor him for Pain's invasion as well as some bullcrap about the seal needing to be restored to full strength prior to his jinchuriki training aught to do it._

There was a bit of a spring in Naruto's step as he traveled along the streets of Konoha once more. He was happy he didn't have to leave quite so soon. He had, after all, just gotten back from the Kage Summit and from his sage training. He'd spent more time away from Konoha than he had near it recently and it was starting to wear on him. He walked in a leaned back posture with his hands behind his head. _Noooow I can get ramen!_ He smiled broadly, people waving happily and kids pointing excitedly at him only for their parents to drag them along with a smile. _Not even five years ago everything was so different… I remember when they pointed in hatred at me. Now I'm a hero to them._ Naruto felt something bitter about that and his smile and easy-going posture vanished as he kept walking, he couldn't understand what it was, but something felt wrong about it all. He shook his head, he'd worry about that later. For now there was ramen and then off to Sakura's place to talk to this 'Karin' girl.

Other thoughts drifted in and out his head while he ate quietly, things like controlling the nine-tails and what the future held. What was the Eight-Tails like? Was he like Gaara? Naruto continued to wonder throughout his meal. Not long after he'd finished and was on his way did another ninja approach him. "Hey, you're Naruto right? The hero of the invasion right?"

"Uh… yeah." he was a bit taken aback by what appeared to be a fan.

"Here, sign this would you? It's for my kid. He wants to be a great ninja like you one day."

"Umm…" Naruto was confused, this was someone who had no doubt hated him and told his son not to even ask who Naruto was… and now he wanted an autograph. _Why does this bother me so much? I don't want to do this right now… maybe when I've sorted this business with Karin out._ "I'm sorry, can it wait just a bit? I've got to go take care of something right away, I'll get back to you on it I promise." and he ran off without waiting for a reply or looking behind him. _Why did I do that? All he wanted was for me to sign something to his kid… but…_

Naruto shook the thoughts from his head. He'd sort that out after the matters at hand, but for right now, he had finally reached Sakura's home. As he approached he heard a loud crash and yelling. Worried that the girl was attacking Sakura, Naruto quickly opened the door and barged in. He was in a small hallway, a door to the right at the foot of some stairs and a small kitchen at the far end of the hall running alongside the stairs. "Sakura?" he asked tentatively, and heard a surprised yelp and she suddenly came into view from the nearby room on the right, her face red and clearly she was flustered about something. "Oh. Naruto. What're you doing here?"

"Uh… are you okay? I heard some loud noises and thought there might be trouble." Naruto was suddenly and uncomfortably aware of the fact that he was in Sakura's home uninvited and had let himself in. He blushed slightly but decided not to bring it up. _If she hasn't noticed, I'm in no hurry to point it out!_ and when she was about to start talking he added: "It's okay, I know that Karin girl is here too, you don't need to explain it, Granny-Tsunade already filled me in."

"Oh, well that's good… but Naruto you really shouldn't call her that. She's the Hokage after all." Sakura's frustration seemed to ebbing away, and Naruto was glad of that, but he was still curious as to what was going on and the awkward silence reminded Sakura he'd asked her a question. "Anyways, yeah, I'm fine. She's just being… well, to put it nicely: difficult."

Just then the red haired girl stepped out of the same room, roughly past Sakura as though establishing some kind of pecking-order. "It's just Karin ya know. Not 'That Karin Girl'. And I am not being difficult, you're just being stubborn!" She had rounded on Sakura and the two were face to face. Quickly the red color returned to Sakura's face as she got more flustered once again. Naruto just stared as the two resumed arguing, something about Karin being offensive and insensitive, something about Sakura being obsessive. Naruto tried to talk a few times unsuccessfully before pausing to think.

_Oh jeez, what have I gotten myself into here. Maybe I should just try to sneak out… replacement jutsu can be used for that right?_ He shook his head, he'd come here for a reason after all. _The best I can do now is just try to figure out what's going on and smooth it over._ "Um, don't mind me?" he said, idly scratching the back of his head nervously as he tried to get their attention.

The red-haired girl in the glasses turned back to him. "I don't. She's the one I mind. She keeps acting like I'm some kind of villain because I spent more time with Sasuke recently than she did. Like it is some kind of 'time equals relationship' nonsense." She said it so matter-of-factly that Naruto was a little confused as to the harshness of the statement.

"I did not! I was only saying that I knew him before you did and that you only knew him after Orochimaru poisoned his mind!" Sakura blurted out angrily.

"I keep telling you sweety, I saw him when he first arrived. He was badly beaten up, barely pulled himself in. Your handiwork I hear, Naruto, so don't feel bad, he barely won at all. I was put in charge of taking care of him from the moment he got there and let me tell you: he only changed **recently**. No matter what you want to argue, he's only recently become the Sasuke you claim you don't know." She folded her arms and straightened her glasses. Running a hand through the unkempt side of her red hair which Naruto observed was completely brushed and smooth on the other side. _Huh, interesting style, but it's neat. It's her own thing and she's not afraid to do it. I like that._ He snapped himself back to focusing on the argument as Sakura shouted.

"He was not! You don't know him at all! You don't understand anything he went through! I'll… We'll bring him back to Konoha, right Naruto?" she shouted, tears welling up in her eyes. Naruto started to answer but Karin cut him off before he could speak. He just went back to staring at the two of them, taking in the details of Karin while she wasn't half-dead on Kakashi's back.

"Listen Sakura, he doesn't want to come back unless it's to kill every man, woman, and child here. I saw everything that happened from where you left me and I'm a sensor so I didn't even need my eyes to tell me. You tried to kill him but lost the nerve, so you're just gonna have to own up to the fact that you don't know him at all, and maybe never did." Karin was frowning at this point, it was obvious she didn't like what she was saying one bit but felt compelled to say it anyway. Naruto could read in her expressions a feeling he knew all too well… resignation to a bitter and cruel truth. She had given up on Sasuke and was trying to convince Sakura to do the same thing. He was slightly repulsed and slightly touched by her efforts; there was genuine sincerity in her words and she meant well but they were rough and lacked any gentleness or sympathy.

Sakura opened her mouth to respond, then closed it again. She repeated this nearly three times as the tears tumbled down her face and dripped onto the balled up fists she held in front of her as if to defend herself from the words. After another few seconds, Karin started to talk again but Sakura just shouted over her: "Shut up! It's not true!" and turned and ran up the stairs to her own room, unsuccessfully trying to avoid crying until after the door slammed shut. Naruto had a hand half reached in a feeble effort to stop her, and saw Karin had done the same. They both looked sort of nervously at each other and then lowered their hands. "She's… not doing well about all that… is she?" Karin asked and took off her glasses to clean them.

Naruto simply stared at her dark crimson eyes. _Those would be something that pervy old sage would tell me are a 'rare and delicious beauty'. Of course… he said that for just about any girl with a good figure._ "Ahem", she cleared her throat. Snapping back to focus on actually talking to her instead of staring, Naruto resumed scratching the back of his head. "Ya know she isn't… you don't need to ask me that. Then again, I don't think any of us are. His situation is a difficult one. It's only recently that I really understand it. Before then I wasn't handling it well either… but now… now I think I've got it." He nodded, more to himself than anyone.

She stared back at him, taking in his features, actually getting a chance to look at him while he wasn't a sickly green color after being poisoned by a friendly kunai. _He's so different from Sasuke. His features are bright, just like his chakra… and he actually smiles with warmth. That's a nice change of pace. I haven't seen a warm smile in years._ "umm…" She heard and snapped back to attention herself, realizing she'd been staring at him. "Well, I'm glad you've got an idea about it in your head. Personally, I've never seen anyone so deep in their darkness, and I've worked under the worst."

"I heard about that… Orochimaru must've been a terrible boss." Naruto mumbled.

"He had his moments… but don't they all? I imagine that Tsunade isn't much better at times. At least Orochimaru can't punch through a solid stone wall." She smirked as he involuntarily rubbed his nose at the memory of being punched. _So I was right! It was the Hokage's chakra I felt earlier and she was hitting something that turns out to be him. Ahhh that's how he found out about me. _Karin quickly pieced the situation together in her mind and watched as Naruto nodded embarrassedly.

"Well, you've got me there. I suppose you get used to most things after enough dealing with it." Naruto gestured with a hand, implying they talk elsewhere than the bottom of the stairs but Karin could tell it was more 'away from Sakura' than it being an 'awkward location'. He had a strange look on his face and she idly wondered what it was that he thought of Sakura. Something had happened between the two of them and she didn't know what, but it was a concern for later. She simply nodded, tucking away that information and curiosity in her mind for later, and walked out the front door, still open from when Naruto had come in to 'help'.

"So what are you here to talk to me for?" she asked, walking with an air of complete confidence as though she had summoned him to speak to her. Naruto followed, oblivious to her sauntering posture.

"Well, I wanted to talk to you about Sasuke." he said after closing the door behind him and looking up to make sure the windows above him were closed and didn't have Sakura staring out of them. _Probably not the best thing that she hears me talking about him too much. Not after what just happened and how she's been about all that lately._

"Damn, you sure don't beat around the bush do you?" she replied but took a seat on a nearby bench across the street. When he stood and stared at her, waiting for a reply still, she smiled. _He's a little slower than Sasuke, but I can see why he's popular. Endearing in a sort of puppy-like way._ "Over here stupid. I'm not gonna shout across the street at you." and she patted the bench.

Naruto shrugged and walked over, sitting on the opposite side with a flump and kicking his legs out. "So, wanna talk about Sasuke or no? And don't worry, I'm not like Ibiki or any of them, I just want to hear your tale told by you. I've known Sasuke ever since I became a Genin, and I was in the same team with him. I've also spent the better part of 3 years chasing after him…" he leaned back and stared at the clouds. "I just want to hear what he's up to. Maybe then I can understand what's been going on with his side of things."

"Hmmm" she mused for a moment, stalling while she considered whether or not to actually tell her own version of things as opposed to the hard-facts version she'd fed the scarred interrogator who she decided had to be 'Ibiki'. _He's straightforward about it. He also has an air of acceptance around him. _She closed her eyes and let her senses expand slightly too: _His chakra isn't reacting violently either so he's not bracing himself to be upset by the news. Huh… I guess he's actually resolved about all of this and just trying to prepare and understand as best he can. Admirable… _she opened her eyes with a start just as a darkness threatened her senses again. _What is that? What on Earth do I keep sensing in him?_

"Karin? Are you alright?" she realized he'd seen her startle and quickly composed herself.

"I'm fine, just getting used to this new place, so many different smells, sounds, and sights." she sighed. _I hope he buys that I wasn't sensing him…_

"Karin, that's silly, you had your eyes closed. Smells and sounds maybe, but sights?" Naruto chuckled as he said it and then started laughing outright after he'd finished. For all her effort to be angry at the lame pun, Karin found herself giggling too. It was silly but direct and honest. He hadn't found her out, but her excuse had been poorly worded she had to admit… and his laugher was contagious. _And… he's got a nice laugh. _As the laughter subsided, she stared at him and smiled.

"Okay, it all starts about three years ago." and she began to tell her story in earnest.

Elsewhere, Sakura lay facedown on her bed, limp and immobile aside from the occasional sob that shook her body. She had nothing left to cry with, drifting between being asleep and being awake. Both places her mind focused on the same thing: Sasuke. She tried not to think of all the recent events and news surrounding him but it came unbidden to her mind. _Attacked the Kage Summit… murdered Danzo… was about to murder his ally… tried to murder me… tried to murder Kakashi… nearly murdered me after I failed… tried to murder Naruto. _She groaned and sobbed again. It kept coming back to those same things. _Murderer, killer, madman, lunatic! Sasuke what happened to you! Why isn't anything enough?_ she hugged her pillow, still crying into it, the thing was ruined and would need to be washed for all the tears in it now.

Nearly ten minutes later the only thing that had changed was now she was sitting upright, head hung as she held the old Team 7 photo. "Sasuke…" she whispered and again tried to write him off in her mind unsuccessfully. _He's gone! He's not coming back! He doesn't want you or even care if you live! Nothing you can do can possibly hope to save him! You saw how he stared through you like you weren't even there! Your efforts are even going to get your friends killed!_ she whimpered, the cruel truth of the matter sent a fresh wave of tears falling onto the glass of the picture frame.

A few tear-filled minutes later and Sakura had set the frame down on the floor. "I'm… I'm… I'm…" she whimpered, trying to nerve herself for what she was about to do. _No! Don't back down now! You know what you have to do! Cast aside everything about 'him'. 'He' doesn't exist anymore! Just do your best to help your real friends take him down! If you keep this up you'll get them killed and then he'll kill you!_ she shook her head, hands clenched in her hair. "I'm sorry Sasuke!" she shouted and drove a chakra-filled heel-kick into the picture on the floor.

The frame smashed apart, the glass was crushed into dust, and the jagged chakra of her teary-state dissolved the photograph. It was done. The Team 7 photograph was gone. She stood up and wiped the tears off her face, straightened and brushed her hair and then left the room, muttering to herself as she went: "Naruto… I won't let you die with him, Konoha needs you." She didn't even bother to clean up the dusty remains of the photo. It didn't matter anymore. It was only a memory, and one she had no intention of recalling ever again.

For all his simplicities, Karin had to admit, there was no audience like Naruto. His openness and directness meant he laughed at the right times (although the ones at her own inconvenience only took two instances of menacing growls before he learned to keep his reaction at those to a light chuckle), he stayed quiet at the right times, and he knew when to press for more details or let certain details slide. All in all, by the time Karin had finished she had told her tale with such enthusiasm that she felt a little embarrassed concluding it with: "And then you came in."

"Mmm" was his only reply, a noise of affirmation before he continued, "Yeah, thank you. That was interesting and pretty much confirmed my guesses about how things happened. Although that Jugo guy sounds pretty tough to handle! For all the bad stuff about it, I guess Sasuke's 'killing intent' you called it had a really good effect huh?"

Karin stared at the sky, leaned back now as she'd seen Naruto do before. Surprisingly, it was uncomfortable in numerous ways, but the view of the clouds was too good to pass up and more than compensated for the discomfort. _Huh… hadn't thought about it that way. I guess I was too busy going all mushy over how 'cool' he was, but Naruto is right. Jugo was much better at controlling himself after only a short while with Sasuke._ She turned and stared at him while he stared up, Naruto having adopted the same position of staring at clouds.

"That Suigetsu guy though, sounds like a total pain. I know a guy like him, always posturing and trying to get ahead of himself. Though he's reliable in a pinch. Yeah, gotta give them credit on that one. Even the real annoying ones can't help but show their true colors from time to time… and they're always bright colors." he smiled and again Karin found herself fascinated by his optimism and perspective. _He could find the silver lining of the storm-cloud that just blew apart his house._ She stared but then asked, "Who was it?"

"What?" he seemed to have been lost in his own memories for a moment.

"The guy like Suigetsu." she replied.

"Oh… well…" and he proceeded to explain to her all about Kiba Inuzuka. Starting first with his fight in the Chuunin Exams, then talking about the failed rescue attempt of Sasuke (filling in what he'd heard about Kiba's ordeal during it), then talking about how Kiba had tried to deal with Madara and his "epic failure" when Madara dodged his attack with one slow step of the way. He also talked about how Kiba was always trying to look tough but frequently wound up in positions that made him look foolish. Karin had laughed at how Naruto had defeated Kiba and at how Madara had dodged him.

"You're right. That's just like Suigetsu. He really saved us against the Eight-Tails. Without him we'd have been done for." She found she missed Jugo and well… wished she could send a postcard to Suigetsu… with no return address. She giggled, "You're not what I expected, you know?"

"Huh?"

"Well, Sasuke did talk about you from time to time. Always talking about how much you annoyed him and how you always managed to get stronger in a haphazard kind of way. He always made it sound like you were one of the most difficult people to stomach being around. The more I think about it and the more I talk to you, the more I realize that's just how Sasuke thought of everyone." She sat up and straightened her glasses again, they'd started to slip in her leaned back posture. When she turned and looked she saw Naruto was sitting hunched over and had a very serious expression that kind of unnerved her.

"Karin… I'll bring him back. For Sakura, for Kakashi, for everyone in Konoha and for you too. I'll bring him back. I gave my word and I never go back on it. That's my ninja way. I know you heard me tell him that when we fought we'd both die. Well… I mean it. If I can't bring him back, I'll give my life to make sure he doesn't hurt anyone else. If I can't save even one dear friend then I don't deserve to stick around anyway… least of all become Hokage. I'll show everyone in the world that revenge and hatred can be stopped, and then the peace, the dream of too many dear people," his eyes started to tear up slightly, "and my own dream too… will be a reality. I won't let them down. I'll put an end to this cycle of hatred, and I'll start with Sasuke." He had said it with such intensity that Karin hadn't even blinked or noticed her glasses slipping. She was awestruck by his determination and his charisma. He wiped away the wetness in his eyes and stared upward again without leaning back.

_This is someone who can lead… people will follow that kind of determination anywhere_._ There's so much more to you than you let on, Naruto._ She smiled and could feel the overwhelmingly warm and positive chakra pouring off of him. She didn't have to close her eyes or focus to sense it, but decided to do it anyway to let it warm her soul even more than it already did. When she focused on him though, that terrible darkness again was there. This time, she stared at it for a moment until she 'felt' it roar. It was a primal, terrifying roar full of hatred and destruction like she'd never felt before… except once. It was nearly the same as Sasuke's chakra when he'd fully awakened that awful power of his when fighting his old teacher, that brief surge of absolute evil. The only difference was that this felt more wild, more unfocused. Whereas Sasuke was pure darkness and evil, this felt more of rage and hatred.

She opened her eyes and looked away, a perplexed look on her face as she thought long and hard. _What is that? Does he have the same evil potential as Sasuke? Could he possibly go down that path as well? Is that what is waiting if he fails to save his friend? Naruto… has Sasuke's darkness infected you…?_ She resolved herself to keep monitoring him. If anything, she owed it to the first person to be genuinely nice to her since she'd been brought to Konoha.

Nearly a week had passed since she arrived in Konoha. Karin had decided that she liked it here, though originally claiming to have not been given much of a choice. Naruto had been the one to break that excuse apart quickly by asking: "Well, where would you go if you could choose?" When her answer had inevitably (after much stalling) been 'nowhere', Naruto had coaxed it out of her to admit she liked the place.

He had been with her for much of the week, showing her around, taking her to eat ramen too many times, and introducing her to people. At first she'd complained, but when she realized that getting a friendly introduction from the local hero would ease the process of making friends, she had relented. A lot of Naruto's friends welcomed her with the phrase: "A friend of Naruto's is a friend of ours… after we get to know you better." It had made her giggle. Apparently they trusted Naruto's instinct more than his wisdom and intelligence. Which was, in her opinion, fair enough.

Meeting Kiba had been interesting, she'd had to watch herself very carefully. Naruto had been quick to remind her that he, like Suigetsu, probably wouldn't handle it well if he knew Naruto had talked about him in a favorable-yet-unfavorable way. Naruto had also wanted to introduce her to a friend named Neji Hyuga but had decided against it at the last moment. When she'd asked him why, he'd argued that a noble family probably wouldn't want to associate with someone who was technically a captive. She could tell he was covering something up, but his reason wasn't any less valid so she accepted it for now. The most confusing of Naruto's friends was Sai. After calling her "two-hair" which she didn't get was his attempt a nickname, Naruto was forced to intercede and explain more about Sai. Oddly enough, right in front of Sai; in fact, Sai had helped in the explanation. It was a very weird encounter, but she decided she liked Sai. He was interesting and she sympathized with his past. She hoped to be good friends with him one day which had made Naruto very happy because he admitted he wanted Sai to make more friends.

All in all, Karin found herself enjoying Konoha more and more. This was what she'd been missing all those years without ever realizing it. An actual life… not always on the run from someone or something. Not always under the watchful eyes of cruel superiors or being stared up at by eyes begging for mercy she could never grant. Control of her life was back in her hands… mostly.

Those were the two things she disliked about Konoha… her caretaker and the fact that she apparently still needed one. Sakura wasn't a bad person by any stretch of the imagination, but she bothered Karin. She was in denial about herself and kept switching her personality around. She didn't know what Sakura's relationship had been like with Sasuke, but it had scarred her badly. The other girl Naruto had introduced her to, Ino, seemed to have gone through the same thing; but accepted that it was just a girlish crush and gotten over it. She even hinted that she had developed a new love interest that she wouldn't divulge. Sakura, on the other hand had drifted into the realm of obsession and couldn't find her way back; even refusing any help in doing so.

It was hard to live under the supposedly necessary conditions of staying with Sakura. Even though in recent days she'd gotten better… it was a 'creepy better'. Lately it was like Sasuke had never been her friend and it unnerved Karin. Every time she mentioned the name, Sakura flew into a rage about him being a missing-nin that should be brought to justice. All the same, she had decided early on to stop trying to analyze or help Sakura. The more she probed and tried to help, the more Sakura behaved strangely.

Karin also had long since grown tired of explaining the collar that everyone eventually found out about despite her hiding it under her clothes as best she could. She decided Konoha was her home now, and was sitting in the ramen stand Naruto liked so much when she decided it was time to do something about the collar.

"You like it here too huh?" a male voice said from behind her, just now entering the ramen stand. She spun in her chair and saw a brown-haired man with a ponytail and a large scar across the bridge of his nose walk in. She stared at him for a moment before he held out a hand. "Iruka Umino." he said as she awkwardly shook his hand in a very unfeminine gesture while he continued talking, "And don't try to hide it. I can see the 'Naruto-Effect' all over you. You hated this place at first right? Now you find you like it and can't stay away. Don't worry, you aren't the first person he's done it to. Though, don't tell anybody, but I did it to him!" he laughed while the chefs nodded knowingly. Apparently the "Naruto-Effect" wasn't an unfamiliar concept to them either.

She smiled, despite his somewhat blunt nature, he seemed to be a very good judge of character. _And damn it, he's right, I visit this place a lot now. Well, might as well ask him since he's clearly a ninja here in Konoha, maybe a jounin?_ She drew a deep breath as he sat next to her. "I don't suppose you could tell me more about Naruto…" _Crap! That's not what I'm asking about!_ she quickly amended her statement before he could reply, the surprise in him evident about her question, "but more importantly, I don't suppose there's any way I can stop wearing this collar?"

He grinned. "Well, I'll answer the more important question first then, shall I?"

_HAHAHAHAH_

_Cliffhanger no justu._


	2. Genins

**Author's Notes:**

**Please I need More Reviews;**

**share some love.**

**End Author's Notes**

**Naruto: Spiral Heart**

_Chapter 2: _Genins

Karin stood on a grassy field near Konoha, one of the many training grounds they used outside the village to minimize damage from powerful techniques in use or development. Karin smirked at the thought, under Orochimaru one trained wherever they wanted with collateral damage being a very small concern. She stood roughly fifteen feet away from Iruka Umino, the man she'd met at the Ichiraku Ramen. He'd brought her out here after they'd talked for a few minutes about removing her collar. She wondered if he'd forgotten her accidentally blurted comment about Naruto, but a knowing smile on his face made it clear that he hadn't. "Okay, so why are we out here?" she asked, folding her arms over her chest with an impatient foot tap.

"Well, this is sort of a preliminary check. You want the collar off, and I have an idea for a way to maybe do just that." He smiled broadly, clearly relishing what he was about to say before adding it, "and if you humor me, I'll talk about Naruto."

She growled in response, her foot losing its tap as she held back from angrily stomping it to help make her point, still fuming over her slip. "Fine, so what's your idea, and this isn't because of Naruto, so drop it!" she felt her face flush with anger and embarrassment.

"Well, it goes like this… the only way to get that collar off would be to make yourself an asset to Konoha, otherwise, you'll always be considered a risk before a civilian since you have a record. Ah… how can I say it… you've worked with Akatsuki and Orochimaru… you've got abilities… you can't just go and live the quiet civilian life. Your options are battle-captive or ninja and only one of those means no collar." He shrugged, as though not liking it, but being honest.

"Hmm, a very good point." She nodded, suddenly taking an analytical approach and realizing he was right. She straightened her glasses, "but why am I out here then?"

"Because I have to see what you can do. If you want to become a Konoha ninja, then I need to know what kind of skills you've got and where you are in terms of ability. Maybe you're already Chuunin level, but maybe you're barely academy pre-Genin material."

"Uhm… don't you have records of that…?" she sighed as she contemplated the people she'd met and heard about… _Oh lord, is Konoha nothing but those "discover your true self through fighting" type people?_

"Yeah, we do, but you can't know someone's true potential and self until you've fought!" he responded cheerily as she suddenly hung her head with a very dismayed look on her face. "Uh… something wrong…?"

She shook her head without looking up at him, unable to decide between being repulsed by or laughing outright at him. When she recovered she finally shook her head again and looked up at him. "No, I'm alright, so how do we begin?"

"Well, to keep things simple, let's just take it one step at a time. First, we'll start with Taijutsu. Show me what you've got, I'll let you on the offense first before I test your defense. Oh, and go ahead and use any Taijutsu enhancing techniques you've got. Don't hold anything back!" He adopted a combat ready stance and waited for her to attack.

_Damn, I'm awful at Taijutsu… _she thought, remembering the simple kick Danzo had defeated her with earlier._ What a 'fun' way to start, time to make a terrible first impression…_ she cursed under her breath but lunged at him. _This is going to be a long day…_

Sakura checked the clock in her surprisingly quiet home. Karin hadn't come back at the scheduled time and suddenly the reason for the quiet was no longer quite as surprising. Karin had never liked the 'schedule' that Sakura had imposed, but she had at least respected it up until now. "Now how am I supposed to watch after that girl if she doesn't follow the schedule we agreed on?" of course, Sakura said 'agree' but Karin had not had much input or control over the schedule; it basically suited Sakura's convenience and ignored Karin's. "Well, guess she's decided to break the rules… no surprise there from someone who worked for Akatsuki and Orochimaru." she said aloud to no one in particular, merely venting frustration. She stood and slipped on her gloves, "Oh well, can't say it took too long for me to have to rein her in…" Sakura picked up the tracking device from her desk and flipped it on before leaving to go find her 'wayward' charge.

Karin panted for breath while Iruka made some notes on a clipboard he'd brought with him. "Poor performance in Taijutsu, mediocre Genjutsu, mediocre Ninjutsu… tell me, did you ever train in those fields to be a ninja?"

She caught her breath slowly and straightened herself back up, not wanting to talk while hunched over, "Well of course not, I was a researcher and a lab assistant. I barely saw daylight, let alone combat. Sure I put down a few overanxious prisoners but beating up a malnourished prisoner doesn't really count as good practice." she paused and then reflected for a moment on her past. "Besides, Orochimaru never trained anyone he wasn't planning to possess anyway… he kept Suigetsu locked in a frigging tank for crying out loud."

Iruka scratched his chin, "Well, I don't know much about that, but you have a point. Okay, so I've heard you're a sensor and a medic-type. So let's see that next." He smiled but it vanished quickly when she bared her arm and he saw bite marks. "Is that…?"

She nodded slowly, "It's a technique that lets another person drain my chakra into themselves at a rapid rate that also heals wounds. Unfortunately, it always leaves these marks, I've never figured out a way to heal them completely." her head hung a bit and she shifted her eyes away, as though ashamed by them. _That's odd, why am I bothered by that? Normally it doesn't phase me one bit…_ Iruka just stared for a few moments before she continued. "It's a technique that was developed by Kabuto Yakushi, obviously the bastard tested it on someone else. He wasn't satisfied with the results so it hasn't been seen since. As far as I know I'm the only one capable of doing this." She pulled her sleeve back down over her arm, hiding the bite marks again and looking away, unable to meet his eyes.

"That's a horrible technique." Karin sighed as Iruka scolded her, she'd heard that before. No one ever just let it slide… but he continued in a strict tone, "If you want my support in getting your collar removed, promise not to use it anymore. That seems like it could have very bad long-term effects and we don't condone those kind of jutsu in Konoha."

Karin stared, wide-eyed, at Iruka. What he'd said was the last thing she'd expected, most people she'd been around only thought of that technique as useful and more or less ignored her opinion on the matter. "Uh-h-h…" she stammered for a response, but Iruka waved a hand and shook his head.

"We received a lot of information from that Kabuto guy a while back… maybe I'll ask the Hokage look it over, she's a talented medical expert and may be able to do so something about that technique… if it's in there." He seemed genuinely concerned while Karin continued to be baffled at his concern over something that everyone else had always considered a trifling matter.

She nodded sheepishly, unsure of just how to respond while he jotted another note on his clipboard. "As far as your sensory ability?" he added after he finished writing, looking expectantly towards her. "I won't ask you to demonstrate it, obviously you can't really see something like that, but let me hear how yours works. I've heard it's the strongest sensory technique in the entire ninja world."

She puzzled for a moment as to how to explain it but then slowly began to describe her technique - Mind's Eye of the Kagura. At several points, Iruka stopped her to ask for more details, and she obliged: knowing the technique made little sense in the same capacity as explaining color to a blind person. Eventually he understood, as best he could, how it worked that she could see chakra itself and use any fluctuations or changes to determine the emotions, mental state, and physical condition of the person she looked at.

"Hmm, kind of like the Byakugan, unless you can see through their eyes, you don't know what their vision is like. Also has the same kind of 'unusually large' range… it works up close in a wide field, but can be narrowed or focused over an enormous distance." Iruka continued talking and Karin felt mildly surprised he'd reveal things about the Byakugan so easily. _Things I already knew… but still, kind of odd, I guess he's serious about accepting me then?_ She mused while he talked, only half listening to him while she herself considered whether or not becoming a Konoha ninja would really work for her.

"That's it! I've got an idea for you to improve your taijutsu remarkably!" Iruka slapped a fist into his other hand. "Any ninja gathers chakra to their fists or feet when they move across difficult surfaces or when they attack. Naturally some of us are better at it than others…" he seemed to shudder as if afraid when he mentioned it; Karin remembered that Tsunade, the Hokage, used precision chakra control to achieve truly enormous strength.

He shook himself visibly and continued while Karin stared. _He's obviously seen that Herculean strength in action… or felt it firsthand. Well, I guess all of the Sannin are rough on their subordinates._ She snapped out of her reverie with a start when she realized he'd asked if she "understood his idea". Taking a moment to consider whether it'd work, she tapped her chin thoughtfully. "It'd only work with someone who used a lot of chakra for such purposes. It'd be much harder to perceive clear enough what attack a normal person had in mind next."

"That's not true, it'd just be easier to learn against someone like that. With practice you could watch for chakra very precisely. Think about it, even if they were attempting to feint you could read where they were storing their strength! With enough practice you could fight with an almost flawless foresight until they unraveled your technique!" He continued on, not hearing her complaints or arguments against it.

"Well-" she started to acknowledge the idea but was cut off as she was forced to leap backwards landing off balance and stumbling to her knees, surprised by a sudden hostile presence intruding on her senses. Barely a second later, she saw only a pink flash before the ground she'd just occupied had exploded apart, fissures running several feet in every direction and a dust cloud hovering over the impact area. Karin couldn't quite make out who it was through the dust, but with her signature technique quickly discerned the nature of her assailant. "My my, is it past 3:25 already Sakura?"

The dust cleared and the pink-haired Haruno Sakura stood in the slight crater of her impact, drawing her fist back and shaking the dirt and dust off the glove. "Don't get coy with me, captive." Sakura stressed the last bit, not bothering to use Karin's name and making sure Karin knew it. "You violated your curfew. Trying to escape? Report to Akatsuki? Doesn't really matter, I've got to bring you in now."

Iruka ran forward, shouting to get Sakura's attention despite the deathly quiet that had settled over the training ground after her powered punch. "No no! She's out here because I asked her to come out here. I didn't know about any schedule! I'm just evaluating her abilities!"

Sakura turned, a surprised look on her face before it fell back into a hardened battle mask again. "Hmf, she's probably holding back to keep secret techniques hidden." Karin started to shake her head and Iruka looked surprised and unconvinced at Sakura's logic. "Well then Karin, I'm going to come at you. Fight for your life, because if you don't… I'll kill you."

"Woah now Sakura! That's too much!" Iruka started forward but Sakura held out a gloved-hand to stop him.

"I'm sorry Iruka, but we need to know what she can really do. I'm not going to let anyone endanger Konoha."

"That's taking it too far! We don't need to go this far! This isn't right!" Iruka again started to advance on Sakura. Karin stared at the conflict dumbfounded. _What is going on here? Sakura's taking this too far and even her fellow ninja know it… only one way out of this…!_

"Okay. I'll fight you Sakura." Karin went into a battle ready posture and nerved herself, letting her sensory focus drop to solely centered on Sakura. _Hopefully Iruka's idea works… otherwise this'll be a short fight._

"No no, you don't have to do this Karin!" Iruka shouted on deaf ears as Sakura fell into a combat stance of her own.

"It's okay Iruka, she agreed to it." but the man ran forward anyway and put a hand on Sakura's shoulder to stop her. Sakura, already intent on her task quickly spun and punched him just below the chest. It forced the air out of his lungs and he fell to the ground wheezing. "It's for Konoha's good Iruka, my apologies."

Karin frowned, but knew that sensing the chakra in her hands and feet would be the only way to survive this encounter… for a little bit. So she decided rather than go on the offensive, she'd goad Sakura into attacking her carelessly. _I can only hope that she'll get so flustered she doesn't realize how I'm dodging… if it works_. "So is this a common thing for you to do Sakura? Betray your allies and attack your friends? Sounds a lot like you should be the one getting reined in, not me." Karin pitched her voice with a large amount of scorn and haughty spite.

Sakura rounded slowly on Karin, glaring and gritting her teeth in barely contained fury. Her fists were clenched angrily and she replied with a growl of hatred. "What… did… you say to me…?"

_Time to really set the bait on the hook… I just wish I wasn't the bait._ "I said," Karin began, talking like she had to explain herself to a child, "that hurting your supposed friends seems to be a favorite past time of yours."

Sakura shrieked in anger, the meaning of her words lost behind her uncontrollable rage and charged forward towards Karin. _Here she comes…_ and Karin did the unthinkable: she closed her eyes. Sakura, already lost in her rage, thought the red-haired girl was mocking her. The pink-haired girl's fist, with enough concentrated chakra to shatter a boulder into dust, surged outward towards Karin's face with full intent to kill driving it.

Karin felt the intense energy coming towards her and shifted to the side gently; not wasting any motion to leap out of the way and break her focus in the process. She heard Sakura's hateful growl at her attack missing and could sense yet another concentrated mass of chakra hurtling towards her. Again she dodged another blow, and another, and another. _Iruka's idea works…!_ she thought in surprise at the fact that she was able to dodge someone obviously more skilled in taijutsu than she was.

Blow after blow flashed towards Karin and were dodged with seemingly no effort, much to Sakura's mounting rage. Her face was red with fury at the fact that her opponent had her eyes closed and was dodging with barely any motion. Overcome with anger, her chakra flared up even more than before and she poured it into both of her fists and feet before resuming her attack even more frenzied than before.

_Shit! She's really upped her attacks. At this rate I'm not gonna be able to-gkt!_ Karin's thoughts were interrupted as a blow clipped her side and sent her spinning off-balance. It also disrupted her focus and her eyes opened in time to see a spinning kick land against her chest and hurl her backwards. Her vision blurred, it felt like something in her chest had cracked and she could barely draw in breath. She was only dimly aware of when she hit the ground, the sensations were distant and minute in comparison to the shortness of breath and the pain in her chest. She coughed as she tried to draw in breath and felt blood on her lips, her eyes opening again as she shook off the disorienting sensations of having been thrown by the kick.

She opened her eyes and saw Sakura lunge forward, a hand closing around her neck tightly. "Guhh!" Karin grabbed feebly at Sakura's hand, trying to remove it from her throat unsuccessfully. She tried to turn her head to see if Iruka had recovered yet but the man was still trying to stumble to his feet; Sakura had really dealt him a powerful blow. She heard his feeble protests towards Sakura but the pink-haired girl ignored him and with a triumphant expression pulled back a fist, aiming it at Karin's face.

"Guess this is all you've got? Go on! Show me what you're hiding you cocky bitch!" Sakura's fist flew forward with cruel speed and intent towards Karin's face. Karin closed her eyes for the blow, knowing it'd be enough to kill her and not wanting to see it hit; only hoping it'd be mercifully quick and painless. _This is the end for me? I didn't think she'd be the one… but it's funny… the last time I was here, I just wanted to see Sasuke's face again and I didn't mind… but now… now I mind… Not Sasuke's,… but I want to see __**his**__ face again…_ Karin's thoughts went unbidden towards her own impending doom and a single tear rolled down the side of her face as she felt a strong wind pressure and braced herself as best she could. Suddenly, the tension in her throat released instantly. She slowly opened her eyes, almost afraid to look as though Sakura might be teasing her cruelly.

"That's enough Sakura. I don't know why you're doing this, but that's enough." Karin heard the voice just as her vision cleared up enough to see the unmistakable figure of Naruto standing over her. One hand around Sakura's wrist, holding back the punch directed towards her. Something was different about him, she could barely make it out, but his eyes looked… orange around the edges with a strange bar-shaped pupil? She didn't know. It wasn't important in her mind at the moment either.

"N-…Naruto…" Karin started to say, but he shook his head swiftly.

"Karin, don't try to talk for the moment. Just stay there." She was all too happy to oblige him as she stopped trying to sit up, still drawing in ragged breaths and now rubbing her throat and clutching her chest as well. Sakura's face was unreadable. She kept trying to mouth a reply of some kind but nothing came out. "Sakura. Go home. You need a break from all this. Go home and take the week off. I'll clear it with Granny-Tsunade." Sakura looked as though she'd been visibly struck; her face was bunched up as though torn between going into another rage and crying. Without another word she spun and stomped away angrily. Naruto's sigh was audible in its despair; he was clearly displeased by the role he'd just been forced to play. Slowly he turned back to Karin, still lying on the ground; she blushed, realizing just how helpless she looked on her back. He extended a hand to help her up and she hesitated for a moment to straighten her glasses and get a better look at him before finally accepting his hand and being hoisted up. The strange things she'd seen with his eyes were gone… was that just a fluke of her glasses being crooked?

"You okay?" he asked her with concern in his voice.

"Um… y-yeah…" she stammered, before looking over to Iruka who, despite sitting on his knees still trying to recover, was grinning broadly at the way her face was red after being helped up by Naruto. "You should help him, I'll be fine!" she quickly yelled and pointed to Iruka whose smile vanished quickly. Naruto turned and realized Iruka had been sitting there for the first time since he arrived.

"Oh, Iruka. Are you alright?"

"Ngh… yeah, but what was her deal? She could be in a lot of trouble for all this." Iruka let Naruto help him to his feet and dusted himself off. "I'll take responsibility for watching Karin for now. Those two obviously don't go together like Ibiki had hoped." He walked past Naruto and leaned close to Karin. "Don't worry, I won't tell him."

She snapped back and quickly shook her head, shouting: "Tell him 'what' exactly!"

"Tell who what?" Naruto chimed in, but Iruka only smiled and waved it off before continuing. "Let's go somewhere else. I'm done out here for a while and could use a nice place to sit and relax."

Naruto's face beamed and everyone knew what his next words where going to be well before he said them… "How about some Ichiraku Ramen?"

"So based on what I saw, I'd say you more than qualify to be automatically inducted as Genin." Iruka said between mouthfuls of ramen. He seemed generally pleased by his statement and added, "that technique idea of mine worked like a charm too. You really should consider developing it more if you wanna stand out from the rest though. That and we should figure out what kind of nature your chakra has." He was jotting more things down as he ate and he wasn't even looking up from his food or his paper to see the disgruntled expression on Karin's face. Naruto, however, was not the most oblivious in the group for once and saw it.

"What's wrong Karin?" he asked, concern creasing his face.

She didn't answer immediately, her chopsticks angrily stabbing the food in front of her. _A Genin! That's it? I served under Orochimaru and Akatsuki! My sensor technique makes me Chuunin-level alone!_ She growled angrily. "I just don't think I'd like being so low rank…" she mumbled in response and instantly regretted it when she saw the hurt look on Naruto's face.

"Is Genin really so bad…? Ya know… I'm still a Genin…" Naruto mumbled slightly, looking away.

Karin looked at Iruka who was busy yammering on and taking notes before she looked back at Naruto again quickly. "I… I didn't know." she stuttered, trying to think of something to say before slamming her hands down on the counter, standing up defiantly and shouting, "I want to become a Konoha Ninja!"

Naruto looked back, eyes wide in surprise and Iruka had his head tilted down so she couldn't see it and smirked broadly. "Finding out he was a Genin too didn't make it quite so bad huh?" he whispered quietly to himself as Karin realized her outburst was drawing quite a bit of attention and sat back down quickly. Naruto looked too shocked to stay offended anymore and she smiled at it. _Good, I hadn't meant to upset him. Guess I was just being prideful… after all, if Danzo could defeat me with a single kick, maybe a Konoha Genin is a lot stronger than other country's Chounins or even Jounins._

Iruka looked up again and stood up, turning to face Karin. "Well hell, I never imagined I'd make a habit of giving away my forehead protector… but…" he started to reach up and untie the one he wore. Karin held up a hand to stop him.

"I'm sorry, I know you want to do that now, but uhhhmmm…" she leaned in close and whispered something to him. Naruto stared as Iruka nodded a few times and then snickered only to get punched in the arm repeatedly.

"Ow ow ow! Okay! I understand! Geez, why am I getting hit by girls so much today?" He laughed it off and rubbed his arm. Naruto only stared perplexed as Iruka nodded again when Karin pressed him for confirmation. "Yeah yeah, I'll make sure you get one like that. I just wanted to let you know that you've got my full approval. I'm an academy instructor after all, I can graduate anyone whom I deem fit at any time. Just ask Naruto over there. He graduated in quite an unusual manner of his own!"

Naruto beamed at the memory and quickly started to tell the story without being asked. Karin listened with a fascinated look on her face as Naruto told his tale about how he first had learned kagebunshin and how he had made his first 'real friend' in Konoha. While she listened, Iruka quietly jotted a few notes and signaled a friend walking by to deliver a few messages for him. As Naruto finished his story, Iruka smirked at the realization that Karin hadn't noticed anything he'd done; she was listening to Naruto with rapt attention.

As the tale concluded, Iruka nodded to Karin and Naruto. "Alright, time for me to take her to go and get her headband. I'll also look after her during that time so Sakura is no longer her caretaker and won't get in trouble for it. Naruto, you should go and talk to the Hokage about all this, she'll know what to do about Sakura." He nodded again. "Let's go Karin."

She turned to Naruto and said, "See you around! Next time I'll be a Genin too hopefully!" She beamed widely and Naruto returned the smile happily.

"Can't wait, but don't get any big ideas, I'm going to be the next Hokage!" He gave a thumbs up to them as the two left. He had a large smile on his face, full of pride, until he turned back towards the ramen and realized Iruka had left him to foot the bill. "Whaa!" it was the first time Iruka had not treated him and now he had three empty bowls and the chef was eyeing him expectantly. He groaned loudly and reached for his familiar frog wallet, ready to empty it once more.

"Would you stop fidgeting!" one of the Konoha ninja demanded.

"Sorry sorry sorry!" Karin immediately apologized, she had been sitting impatiently in a chair in front of a large table behind which sat five ninja including Iruka. It was in an unused classroom and she sat by herself under the close scrutiny of the five other ninja. She had been trying to get comfortable in a chair designed to deny that very thing while the others reviewed Iruka's notes and asked her the occasional question. _Just get on with it! It's been nearly an hour already!_ she thought angrily, wondering if this was a test of her patience.

"As I was saying," the man continued with a frustrated tone, "you fully renounce your old affiliations and swear to defend and work towards the good of Konoha?"

"I do." she intoned as she had done many times before for similar questions from the other ninja overseeing her ersatz graduation. _Just hurry up with it! I want to see if Iruka really got the thing I asked for…_

The group of ninja looked at each other, whispering quietly amongst themselves for an unbearably long time before finally nodding slowly. "Alright. We have come to an agreement." They shuffled their paperwork together and passed it along, each one stamping a form on the top of the stack and passing it to the next as it made its way from one end to the other. Iruka was at the far end and added another stamp to it before pulling out a box. With a large grin he opened it up and said warmly, "Karin, please stand."

Karin, excited, rose to her feet so fast the chair behind her fell over with a clatter. Her face darkened red almost immediately and she turned to pick it back up while the others suppressed smiles and knowing nods, remembering their own pasts. She folded her hands together in front of her, looking surprisingly hopeful. It was forbidden to use jutsu at this point so she actually felt somewhat blind about what was happening without her familiar sensory-technique giving her added insight. _That's a weakness I should be careful of later…_ she thought in a tiny corner of her mind while Iruka walked forward with the opened box in his hands and said, "Karin, I believe these are now yours. Wear it with pride. You're now a Genin of Konoha."

Her face now flushed with excitement and eagerness, looked into the box and saw that he had procured everything she had asked for, right down to the detail she liked most. "Thank you… so much…" Iruka looked at her for a moment and nodded to the others.

"Oh, and two more things." He reached forward and held out a small, faintly glowing stone which he touched to the collar on her neck. There was a low humming noise and then the collar snapped loose. "You don't need that anymore… and…" he rummaged in a pocket in his vest before producing a small key and a piece of paper. "We found you a place of your own to live in the village. It's not much, but… beats having to live as a captive so-" he was about to go on but could tell from Karin's face that was unnecessary. She seemed almost about to cry. "Alright. I think that concludes our business here today. Karin, when you're ready, you should go out and meet some of the other ninja in the village. You should also think about finding a team to join up with. No hurries though, just take your time and get used to all of this." He turned and the others all started to leave the room together. Iruka was the last one out and he turned with a smile. "By the way, I'll get you some ramen some time and answer that other thing you were wondering about. After all, you're a Konoha Ninja now, no need to keep secrets from a friend." He gave a wink and left.

She continued to stare at the box but quickly closed it again, a large smile on her face and dashing off to find the address listed on the paper. It didn't take her long, her energy was boundless as she dashed along, drawing quite a few puzzled gazes, until she found the small apartment complex. She slid the key into the door on the top floor and stared at it for a moment. She looked around for a moment to see if anyone else was nearby; finding no one, she closed her eyes slowly and took a deep breath. She slowly turned the key and walked inside.

It was just a small one-room apartment with a bathroom, but it felt strange to her. She walked around, slowly touching the various parts of the room such as the dresser or the bed, setting down the box she carried in front of the mirror as she went. She sighed quietly and walked towards the double-window on the side of the room. "So this is my life now, huh?" she spoke to herself, barely muttering but still clearly audible in the quiet stillness of the room. She fell backwards onto her bed and stared at the ceiling.

_Not much… but I guess it's better than the places I'm used to. At least here no one would kill me without a thought for their own benefit… except maybe Sakura… thank god I'm not stuck with her anymore_. She frowned again, remembering the bitterness towards her from the pink-haired girl. _She's so far gone she's afraid to even turn back now. If she was to actually acknowledge her own loss then she'd be able to see all the good still around her, but she's too obsessed with trying to fix one mistake; never learning from it._ She sighed and rolled over, lying on her side now and closed her eyes. _So this is Konoha… and, well, I guess I'm a part of it now. I feel like I should be more awkward about all this but it just kind of feels right. What were you thinking abandoning all of this Sasuke? How different would I be if I could've "grown" here instead of in labs performing my duties for Orochimaru?_ She again sighed and sat up abruptly, shaking her head.

"No, no no." She slapped her face lightly as she said aloud, "I am ahead of all that. Now! Now I'm Karin, a ninja of Konoha." She stood up and walked towards the mirror, taking a good hard look at herself. "Well, I don't quite look the part… and I don't really feel it yet… especially that bit about the 'will of fire'…" She giggled a bit, imagining what Jugo would say about her current situation. She then grit her teeth imagining Suigetsu harping on about 'you really wanna be closer to Sasuke so now you're even gonna join Konoha? Hah!'. _I wonder what happened to those two, we got separated at the Kage-summit, Sasuke left them for dead…_

A sigh slowly escaped her lips, her head hung a bit, "Sasuke… why give all this up? …and why want to destroy it?" she said as she thought about her current surroundings. She came to a sudden bitter realization as she talked to herself, "Guess I'm his enemy now, aren't I?" A smirk crept onto her face. "…but I'm not worried, Naruto is here and I don't think he'd let Sasuke hurt anyone here." She stopped talking and opened the box in front of her that Iruka had given her. Inside was a new set of clothes and her forehead protector with the leaf symbol of Konoha on it.

_And I'll be there to help him do it_. She thought as she tore off her lavender coat, letting it fall to the floor, peeling off the outfit she'd worn under Orochimaru and Sasuke. She'd long since abandoned the Akatsuki robe and now she was abandoning the rest of it. She peeled off the uniform completely, leaving herself standing practically nude in front of the mirror before she looked back in the box. She pulled out a new coat, similar to her old in design, but now entirely black. She turned it over and a beaming smile appeared on her face; there, on the back, like she'd asked was the red spiral symbol she'd seen before on Jounin vests and elsewhere. The symbol of 'Uzushiogakure' she heard, the land of whirlpools, she'd learned that Konoha still honored to this day. _Heh, might as well make a good impression on all these headstrong folks._ She smiled again, and pulled on a matching pair of black shorts. She looked in the mirror and let out a disgruntled huff. "Not enough yet… now I'm still the same, only black with a spiral on the back…" so she dug into the box once more and pulled out a black hair-tie and bound her hair into a ponytail as she'd done once before after fighting the 8-tails. "Hmmm… and now for the finishing touch!" she announced happily, pulling out a new pair of unscuffed glasses with a red, squared frame. She also pulled out the last item… a Konoha forehead protector. She smiled and blushed a bit, the modification she'd asked for was there just as Iruka had promised it. She tied the band around her thigh, staring in the mirror for a moment before she pushed the leg of her shorts down a bit to cover all but the metal plate on the front of it.

_Oh what would Jugo, Sasuke, and Suigetsu say if they could see me like this? Jugo would probably be happy for me… Suigetsu… well… Suigetsu doesn't count. He'd just harp on about how I was jumping from one crush on a member of Team 7 to another. Not that I am!_ She shook her head violently, her face blushing red slightly at the embarrassment and frustration of the imagined jab from Suigetsu. She reminded herself that next time she saw Suigetsu she could actually fight him seriously. _Good, I owe him a legitimate beating. But Sasuke? What a ridiculously awkward situation that'd be. Saved by his rival and now emulating him! He'd probably not care… nothing matters to that guy anymore. But, I will help him rescue you from yourself, Sasuke. I'll help him bring you back, if nothing else than to thank him for what he did for me._ She smiled again and said aloud, "After all, I'm a Konoha Ninja now. It's my duty." As she turned and took the box to place it somewhere out of the way, the mirror showed only the tiniest glimmer of truth about what her secret modification was. There, on her thigh, the fabric showed only for a moment as she bent and put the box under the bed before she stood and straightened it… and the fabric behind the metal was orange.

Karin strolled down the streets of Konoha, odd glances going her way but quickly being dismissed as they saw the unmistakable leaf mark on the forehead protector of a ninja. There were a few raised eyebrows about this 'new girl' they didn't recognize, but they couldn't deny her current status. Many also smiled when they saw the red spiral on the back of her new black coat. As she walked, no one seemed to recognize her, and it wasn't until she saw a young man walking along on his hands grunting out a routine of some kind.

"Uhm, Hey! Rock Lee, was it?" Karin called out tentatively to the young man who promptly flipped to his feet.

"Ah! It was… it was…" he fumbled for a moment, "…Kili?"

Karin frowned and Rock Lee immediately started to stumble through an avalanche of names that began with 'k' as his face turned progressively redder. Karin finally held up a hand to stop him. "It's Karin. Don't worry about it… but… what are you doing?"

He smiled broadly, showing as many teeth as he could and striking a thumbs up pose. He even seemed to be imagining he was sparkling in his mind and said, "Fifteen laps around Konoha on my hands. If I can't do it, one thousand pushups with each hand! You stopped me, so when I resume, I'll do the pushups!" He seemed genuinely pleased that he'd actually have to switch the regimens up despite the unbelievable difficulty of each one.

"Uhm… I'm sorry?" she started to say but he held up a hand and solemnly closed his eyes in response. He shook his head sternly once and then struck yet another pose; this one, she imagined, was supposed to be a daring and proud pose.

"It is the duty of myself as a ninja to go beyond all limits! I am a genius of hard work and must hone the full potential of my youthful spirit!" He shouted at the top of his lungs, Karin was surprised that no one even turned or startled. Apparently this was not an uncommon occurrence. He leaned in and whispered like it was some kind of coy secret. "Besides… I like the pushups better." He immediately resumed his shouting. "Anyways! Nice to see you again Karin! Congratulations on becoming a Konoha Ninja!" She was surprised he'd actually noticed with how caught up he was in his own world. "Remember to harness your youth to become the best! Now I must resume my efforts!"

Karin watched in silent awe as Lee fell to the ground on that very spot, heedless of the people around him and began counting off one-handed pushups. She thought about continuing to talk to him, but decided she'd rather not experience that again. _Determination is one thing, but this guy takes it way too far. I'm glad he's on my side… but… I'm glad I don't have to put up with him regularly_.

She didn't see another familiar face until the hooded figure of Shino. She wasn't sure if she wanted to say 'hi' to him, but he strolled past her without so much as turning his head. She thought he might've raised an eyebrow in surprise at the sight of her, or maybe her Konoha Forehead Protector, but with the goggles and hood, she couldn't be sure. She knew about the bugs in his body and using her technique to sense that always made her feel uncomfortable, so she just let him pass.

Following Shino, she ran into Ino and Sai, the two of them were walking together chatting about something when Ino waved to Karin. "Hey there, I heard there was quite a snafu with Sakura, you okay?"

"Uh… yeah… fine…" Karin trailed off a bit, not in any hurry to tell Sakura's friends a story about how she'd gone berserk and attacked Iruka before coming after her with intent to kill.

Sai raised a hand as if needing permission to speak, but then spoke anyways without waiting for a response. "Actually, if you're hesitant about talking to us the way Sakura has been acting lately, we've seen it." Ino turned to start to try and hush Sai, but Karin only hung her head a bit in reply.

"I'm… I'm not sure what's up with her. Her whole world revolves around Sasuke and he's destroying himself and it's dragging her along with it." Karin said sadly, honestly lamenting Sakura's fate as it may well have been her own had she not given him up of her own free will.

Ino sighed loudly, "Look, Karin, it's not your fault what Sakura does and you're just her recent target of aggression because you represent all the things she can't bring herself to admit or do."

Karin looked puzzled, but then her face lit up, "oh, you mean that I was with Sasuke for a while and she's jealous of that given her obsession?"

Ino started to nod but Sai held up a hand again and started to talk, saying: "I think Ino was actually indirectly referring to the way that you and Naruto-ngh!" he was cut off by a none-too-subtle stomp on his foot by Ino. He stared at her for a moment, she made a face, and he turned back. "My apologies. Though I do feel there is something you need to know about regarding Sakura and her recent actions."

Karin, meanwhile stood utterly perplexed by the interaction she'd just seen go on. She closed her eyes and expanded her mental focus, using her technique to examine the two. Sai was, as he always is, a perfectly gray chakra that belied nothing in terms of emotion or power. Ino, on the other hand was red and jagged… clearly bothered, flustered, and also hiding something. Karin decided rather than stand there getting only half-truths and hintings, she'd go on the offensive. "Are you two going out?"

Ino went red-faced, Sai remained as utterly impassive as ever. Ino started to shake her head 'no' while Sai answered: "No, but I think Ino would like it if we were." Ino turned and looked with a face that was a mix between furious and embarrassed; Sai didn't appear to realize he'd said anything wrong; Karin stood awestruck by the sudden bomb that Sai had dropped so casually.

"Umm…" Karin began, but Ino interrupted her by yelling: "Sai! Don't blurt things like that out!"

Sai turned back to her with a puzzled look, "but isn't it true?"

Ino's face turned bright red and she started to try and mouth a reply and then ran off without another word, only managing a few squeaked half-syllables. Sai only stared in confusion, "I'll… have to ask Naruto… or better yet, Shikamaru, about this." He shook his head and leveled his emotionless gaze back at Karin. "Anyways, I guess I can tell you about the thing I mentioned now, can't I?" He gestured to an alleyway nearby and walked over there for privacy, the random passerby's still staring after the outburst from Ino. Karin nodded and followed, not sensing any hostility or danger from Sai… _Not that I would if he had, talk about a blank slate!_

Karin followed him slowly and when they reached the alley, Sai turned and leveled his emotionless stare at her again. She would likely have been unnerved, except the stare was like Sasuke's… _and he even kind of looks like him… _so she instead stared back, waiting for the revelation he was going to share with her. "So what's up?"

Sai looked up momentarily before correcting himself a low 'ah', and then speaking aloud. "What I had to tell you about Sakura is that she… hmm… confessed to Naruto. She met him around the time of the kage-summit and tried to get him to abandon his promise to return Sasuke as it was this promise that he initially made to her. She tried to do this by saying she loved him and only cared for him. Naturally, what we know about Naruto means this didn't work…"

Karin cut him off, "He's not just doing it for her."

"…exactly. He's doing it for himself and for everyone else at the same time. Regardless, this confession was shot down. Unfortunately, while I think Sakura had tried to reason in her head that it was a fake confession in order to get him to let her handle Sasuke… I think it was a genuine one that she refuses to admit was genuine." Karin gasped in surprise and placed a hand over her mouth. "Exactly," Sai continued, "she's denying anything and everything but her goal when she herself doesn't even believe in it anymore. You saw her hesitate when she went to actually kill Sasuke. She'd nerved herself to kill him but couldn't do it. She'd nerved herself to confess to Naruto but convinced herself it was a ruse that he saw through. She's on a spiral of self-destruction if she can't actually accept the world around her and herself."

Karin tapped a lip in thought, "has anyone told the higher ups?" Sai nodded in reply. "Ah… they aren't sure how to handle it… can't say that I blame them." Sai again nodded and motioned out of the alleyway. As they walked, Karin straightened her glasses and ran a hand through the still-ruffled side of her hair (what little of it wasn't in the ponytail). "I guess I can try to smooth things over, but that'll have to wait until she's calmed down a bit."

Sai shook his head this time and responded, "l wouldn't think she'll listen to anyone but Sasuke himself, and he's in no way interested in anything but killing her." He saw the bitter look on Karin's face, and thinking about only correcting his mistake, continued: "Ah, my apologies, killing all of us." Karin stopped walking as soon as he finished saying it.

"Sai…" Karin turned, her voice strained.

"Ah, I've done it again haven't I? Just do like the others and hit me. It seems to work wonders for their stress." He turned and smiled, for all the world seemingly ready to be struck. It was so surprising the uneventful way he said it that Karin's anger dissolved instantly.

"Hahaha," she chuckled, "You're honest! I'll give you that! No, I only meant that even if Sasuke talks her out of her own decay, it's only step one all over again. She has to save herself, everyone else can only help." Sai nodded slowly, pulled out a book and jotted a few notes. Karin peered over and saw the book was full of helpful social information and laughed again. "Just as a note Sai, you might want to not show that book so openly. It's kind of embarrassing!"

"Should I be embarrassed?" he replied.

Karin again started laughing and patted him on the shoulder. "I guess it's okay to be embarrassed every so often isn't it?" He shrugged and her laughing faded away as she added: "Ya know Sai? Everyone needs a friend like you. Someone like you keeps everything in perspective."

He shrugged, "Happy to help, even if I didn't do anything. By the way, I think you've unintentionally walked in a circle…" He pointed to the apartment complex she was now standing in front of again.

"Huh!" she startled in surprise, looking around, "How did I get back here?"

Sai smiled and sketched a quick circular drawing. "This is Konoha, it's easy to go in circles without realizing it when you're new to the location."

Karin nodded slowly… and then shouted again, "How did you know I started here!"

Sai put away the pad, frowned, and thoughtfully tapped his lips. "Ino told me you came from this direction when she first saw you… she said that the change in outfit and the way you were walking made it clear you must live here. She also pointed out that it would make sense for Iruka to put you here."

Karin, flustered that she was so easily predictable, caught the last bit and hung on it. "Wait… what? Why would that make sense?"

Sai turned and looked thoughtful once more: "I believe she said it's because Naruto lives quite close to here and there's no way anyone wouldn't put you with a view from your window facing into his."

A few minutes later, Sai was rubbing his cheek and pulled out his notebook again. He quickly scratched out the line that said 'Karin does not resort to physical violence as readily as the other girls in Konoha.' He then flipped the page and scratched out the line 'Embarrassment is okay sometimes.' and wrote 'Embarrassment is okay sometimes - but not for girls.'

Elsewhere, Yamato stood on a high tree branch, watching as a dark-skinned man approached. He wore only some body armor over his Kumogakure uniform, a pair of sunglasses, and had seven swords strapped to his body. He saw the tattoos he'd been told to look for and confirmed that the man was, in fact, Bee; the eight-tailed beast's host. He'd heard about him taking a trophy-sword that belonged to one of the Hidden Mist's seven swordsmen, but he obviously did not have it with him now. _What happened to it? That's not the kind of item one loses lightly… _He saw the man was writing in a notebook as he walked and decided he should guide him the rest of the way. He hopped down when the man had walked close enough. "So you're the only one they sent?"

The man looked up from a notebook he'd been writing in with an ink-covered finger and immediately held up his hands in a pose: "Got that right, but I ain't just spending' the night! I came all the way here to train your Jinchuuriki, cuz I'm the eight-tailed beast's master Killer-Bee! WHEEE!"

Yamato stared in a mixture of confusion, awe, and horror at the rhyming man from Kumogakure. "Well, I'm sure the Hokage would like to speak to you immediately, quickly, let's get out of the outskirts. Akatsuki is still looking for you."

"Let 'em find me, they'll get a beating for free, 'cuz if they don't send at least three, they won't like what they see!" the man enthusiastically yelled, making very little sense to Yamato. Yamato only shook his head and kept walking, muttering something under his breath about how 'thank god this will only be my problem for only a little while longer.'

_What necessitated the arrival of Bee in Konoha? Naruto's break from training is over!_


	3. Naruto's Shadow

**Author's Notes:**

**El friloero : **thanks this the continuation….

**RyoshiMorino:** Well sakura will lash at karin but that the story….

**SaltyUchiha: **Please stop the hating, and your really salty…

Well the next chapter will be different from the original story…

**End Author's Notes**

_Chapter 3: _Naruto's Shadow

Bee stood with his arms folded, expressionless as always, with his eyes hidden behind sunglasses. Yamato had stopped him when he received a message from a masked ninja, an ANBU, with a message from the Hokage. The two had then been standing and talking to one another for a few minutes, the ANBU having departed, while Yamato tried to ascertain the information he'd been told to double check. "Look, I'm sorry to stop and ask you here, …but since you're not carrying the sword we'd heard you had and since you're coming here instead of our previous arrangement, I need to confirm the details." The dark-skinned man tilted his head and then flung his arms out wide in yet another pose.

"What's there to know? We had a little problem and it had to go. Now I'm here and the problem's no mo'."

Yamato hung his head and again sighed. He decided to try a new tactic. "Okay, I guess if you're not going to elaborate, I'm going to have to have to send a messenger to the Raikage for the details…" He started to turn away, then turned back rapidly, adopting his familiar 'horror face' he always used to make a point… _Heh, particularly with Naruto_… "…because his brother is unwilling to be cooperative!" he added, in a menacing tone.

"Woah woah, let's not be so hasty. After all, no need to get nasty. Don't worry or tell my bro-I'm just playin', it was that Akatsuki guy hidin in the sword I was carryin'. That same shark-faced dude that I fought before, it was the real one this time that my bro and I aced once more. Our info got out and the original idea screwed, so I came here when the plan was renewed. The leaf beat Pain so it's plenty secure, so we'll train here uninterrupted for sure! WHEEEEE!"

Yamato had long since dropped his 'horror face', unable to sustain it under the constant, rhyming, nonsensical barrage. He thought hard about the message he'd just received. _If I didn't have training in decoding, I don't think I'd have been able to really get that_. "So what you're saying is that… Hoshigaki Kisame hid in his own blade somehow? And then he managed to spy on Kumogakure and learn about the alliance's plans… but that the information got out, despite you defeating him?"

Bee nodded once, folding his arms again. "You got that right, but let me tell you he's a tough motherfucka; he took himself out and made our efforts to capture him make us look like suckas."

"So he killed himself? Damn, what a stubborn guy. Guess we still have no ideas what they're planning or capable of yet then." Yamato rubbed his chin in thought as he muttered to himself. "We've only seen two so far that haven't been killed in combat… or… or her. But… hmm, I don't think she's a danger anymore. We were told to keep an eye out for her, more as a potential ally later…"

"You talkin' to yourself ain't makin' us any younger, c'mon man, let's get to the village I don't wanna wait any longer."

Yamato snapped back to attention, "Yeah, but our first stop is to see the Hokage-" He started to say, but Bee interrupted him again, rapping once more about how he'd come there to see the Hokage to begin with. "Yeah yeah yeah, I get it!" Yamato finally cut him off. There was a pained expression on his face as he once again took the lead, Bee's story checking out with what he'd been told to ask him by the ANBU. Yamato started to lead him again toward the Hokage's office, a tortured expression on his face the entire way that only grew worse and worse as Bee continued to rap about his surroundings. Yamato was amazed he could create a new verse about every different little thing but was relieved that soon Bee wouldn't be his problem anymore.

]][[

Nearly an hour later, Yamato practically lay in the corner of the Hokage's office, his mouth sagging open as he'd been enduring Bee's rapping the entire time. Tsunade stared at the dark-skinned man who sat, grinning broadly, opposite her. "Alright, so you'll train Naruto, but we need some controls. Without a distant and secure location, we can't risk the Nine-Tails running free."

Bee threw up his arm and once again exclaimed, "Don't worry a bit about Naruto's darkness, if it comes up, Woody and I can handle that mess! WHEEEEE!" Yamato shuddered but had long since given up fighting over the nickname 'Woody'. He just hoped that that Bee would forget about it… _Or at the very least don't mention it around Naruto_. Otherwise he remained nearly catatonic.

"Yamato!" Tsunade snapped, quickly returning him to an upright seated posture before he hopped up from his seat and gave her his attention. "Do you think you and Bee could restrain Naruto if he started to run out of control?"

He rubbed his chin slightly, "Without the pendant… might be tough… but… between my wood element and his full mastery of the Eight-Tails, we probably could-"

"Got that right! Wouldn't even take all night!"

Yamato shuddered again but continued after Bee's outburst: "-but there'd be a lot of damage to the surroundings. The two highest tailed beasts battling it out, if we didn't end it quick, it'd take even more abuse to make it stick." He stopped, clearly in horror at himself for his unintentional rapping.

"Not a bad rhyme, you might get to my level in time!" Bee chimed in, patting him on the shoulder. Yamato's head was in his hands, and he seemed to be sobbing, but Tsunade ignored it (as he'd been behaving strangely the whole time) and put a hand down on her desk with enough force to startle the two men and return their attention undividedly to her.

"Alright. I'm allowing it, but Bee, take every precaution you can against his transforming unless he's got control of it. I don't even want him starting to try until you're sure he's ready. Yamato, I want you present during any sessions to monitor and restrain the Nine-Tails chakra if it even slightly goes out of control. Lastly, I want this done somewhere out of the way. Not too far from the village that you're in danger, but definitely not close. Yamato, I'll entrust assigning the extra guards and scouts necessary for wherever it ends up happening to you. Simply put, no vulnerabilities, and don't let Akatsuki know we aren't still going to send Naruto to that 'island'. If they waste time looking for that and then can't find him, we'll have an advantage; maybe we can even lay a trap or two there." The two men nodded and Tsunade stood up and continued talking, her voice going somehow even more serious than it had before. "Listen, the shinobi joint alliance feels that both you," she nodded to Bee, "and Naruto are to be kept off the battlefield and out of this war. Let me tell you right now that I agree; but only so far. Neither of you should be leading charges against the enemy. That doesn't mean I don't want you fighting. Truth be told, I feel that we have almost no chance of beating Madara and now Sasuke without the power you two possess. Also, regardless of our whims, you two are the goal of Madara and that means one way or another he'll be dragging you into this. I'd rather you became involved on our terms. If you have any objection, let me know now!"

Yamato stared quietly at Bee who sat with his unreadable smiling expression for a few moments. "Got a gift for thinking', and you got that right. I'll train Naruto 'til him and the Nine-Tails are tight. We'll be ready to do as you ask, and kick the shit out of that guy in a mask! WHEEEEE!" He had risen from his seat in enthusiasm in the middle of rant and now stood with his arm straight up and fingers in his familiar 'horns' position.

Yamato again shuddered, but he quickly grinned when he saw the beaming smile on Tsunade's face. "Glad to hear it Bee. Now," she signaled to an aide near the door, "let's get this all started."

]][[

Minutes later, Naruto walked into the Hokage's office, confused as to why he'd been summoned. "I thought you said I had a month, it's only been two weeks!" He started to complain, ignoring the strange man from Kumogakure that he had not seen before.

Tsunade held up a hand to stop him. "Plans change. Originally you were going to have to leave the village. Instead you'll be doing your training here with this man, Bee."

Naruto stopped, appraised the man momentarily, and then turned back to Tsunade. "Why am I getting trained by him? I thought Kakashi and Yamato were both fine instructors. Why do I need this guy?"

Bee, at this point, interrupted him by folding his arms and leaning back: "This is the Jinchuuriki with a beast inside stronger than me? Gotta be joking 'cuz a joke's all I see." and watched with a smug smile as Naruto started to shake in anger.

"You wanna fight, sunglasses?"

Yamato, who had been quiet until now, put a hand on Naruto's shoulder to stop and steady him. "I wouldn't try it if I were you Naruto. That man is Killer Bee, the host of the eight-tailed beast and he's a perfect host. He has full access to his beast's power." He saw Naruto's shock and knew he only needed one more push to get Naruto to respect this newcomer and to acknowledge him as a vital resource. "…and, he's the only one who's recently foiled Uchiha Sasuke."

Naruto's eyes went wide and he turned to stare at Yamato, who only nodded a confirmation. "You mean…?" Naruto asked, unable to finish his question.

"Yes, that's right. He can help you take control of the Nine-Tails within you." Yamato answered without waiting for Naruto to articulate his response.

Naruto shook his head, "He can tell me more about how Sasuke is fighting lately. That's what I want-… need to know." He looked awestruck but he righted himself and resumed his original obstinate expression. "I don't want this training to get in the way of my efforts toward Sasuke."

Tsunade's face was unfazed by this latest Naruto outburst regarding Sasuke. "No. You're not going after Sasuke with the Nine-Tails still out of control inside you. In fact, you don't get to do anything but train with Bee here until you can show me a complete mastery of the fox's powers. No missions. No chasing Sasuke. Nothing. Your only goal is mastering your power. Do you understand?"

Naruto shook his head, "But Sasuke is getting worse and worse. What good does it do me to sit here and train? I can train on the way and together this sunglasses-guy and I take care of Sasuke and-"

Tsunade slammed a hand down on the table with barely enough restraint to avoid cracking it, but everyone could hear it strain under the impact. "You're not listening! Don't you know that a trained user of the Sharingan can control the Nine-Tails? All Sasuke has to do is tap into your rage and he can literally control you through that monster inside of you! Do you want that?"

Naruto could only hang his head meekly and mumble a 'no' of reply.

"Good, now acknowledge it. I don't want you to think you can just run off as soon as you make any headway; this is no different than your sage training. If you rush it, it'll all be for nothing." Tsunade pressed the matter while Yamato held a disgruntled look. _I know Yamato, I know, this is rough on him, but we can't risk him being his usual self right now. There's too much at stake right now to be soft on him!_ She thought, as If she could direct it into Yamato's mind and simultaneously absolve herself of the guilt she felt for berating Naruto.

"I…" Naruto began, obviously struggling to find the words that properly expressed his opinion without getting violent, "I imagine there's no choice then. I understand. Until I can show you at least a little bit of control of the damned fox inside me, I'll do as I'm told."

Tsunade felt relieved to hear his acceptance, though it was still the same kind of resigned tone as when informing a child they had to have a tooth pulled. She sighed aloud and leaned back in her chair, suddenly exhausted. _I guess age catches up with you even when it doesn't look it… and it doesn't help that I'm playing the grandmother role here._ She paused for a moment longer before looking at Bee and Yamato in turn. "You two, he's all yours. Do what you can, take what resources you need. Begin as soon as you can."

"Yes, Hokage." Yamato nodded.

"Time to start at long last? Don't worry little guy, we'll have a blast. First though what you gotta do, is find a way to confront the darkness in you. Without the Falls of Truth there's a hitch, but if you've got the drive you can erase that bitch. Find a way little Jinchuu, until your darkness isn't a problem - mastery isn't for you! WHEEEEE!" Naruto could only stare at the dark-skinned man as he rapped his way to standing and then towards the door. "Come and find me or Woody when ya got a plan, if you think you can't do it, try bein' a man!"

With his piece spoken and without waiting on any of the dozens of questions Naruto was trying to form in response to the seeming-gibberish of Bee's, the man left the room. Yamato shrugged and turned to Naruto, "I think I know what he means, and that kind of scares me that I'm starting to understand him, but regardless, you need to find a way to measure your inner darkness and hopefully control and take over it. While I've got no idea how to go about that, I'm sure you'll figure something out. My only advice is this: Don't try to hide it or lie about it. Something tells me Bee is deadly serious about this, so until you can say for certain that your darkness is gone or under control, we can't proceed."

Naruto nodded and left the room, unsure of even where to begin, but moving quickly as though acting like he had a purpose would somehow accidentally find him one. He was out of sight within seconds and Yamato stood in thought, quietly considering everything that had happened while Tsunade leaned back once more and closed her eyes.

]][[

Tsunade drew in a deep breath and held it for a few seconds before letting it go. _Look at him go, can you see him where you are Minato, Jiraiya, and Kushina? He's growing so fast that I can't even keep up with him, but don't worry, I'll do everything I can to keep him okay. I can't promise safety, the way things are now, there's no chance of that and I won't lie. I just hope… right now… with Akatsuki losing so many of their number, they're bound to be getting desperate, I only hope we don't have a demon fox to deal with on top of them._

_I wonder though… can he truly master the Nine-Tails? If anyone can, it's him, but I'm not sure he's ready quite yet. Something's missing…_ she mused, and sat back up, Yamato seemed lost in his thoughts and Tsunade left him to them. She glanced down at the folder in front of her on the desk and the forms nearby. _I'm glad Naruto didn't notice these, he wouldn't have left me alone about it._ She smirked, sliding the folder out from under the obscuring papers to reveal the name on its tab as "Karin". She picked up the forms and thumbed through them. A few of them had performance reviews, a few were notes from Iruka who'd more-or-less taken her under his wing. It was the last one that troubled her.

It was a form issuing a request for Karin to be put under heavy scrutiny and possibly removed from Konoha as a potential spy. Unsurprisingly, it had been submitted by Sakura. Tsunade shook her head and sighed, opening up the folder to see if there was any merit to it. _Except these are all solid reviews… distrustful, sure… but she clearly has hit it off well with folks and is trying her best. It only confirms what Iruka has said already about her. Of course… there's the other thing he said, I'm not entirely sure if I believe that part yet. It'd make sense as far as why she's so angry at Karin though._

Tsunade chuckled, and Yamato startled a bit at it, as though he'd been so lost in thought that he had forgotten he wasn't alone. _First she's around Sasuke for a time that you can't have, now she's moved on and been given a second chance… a fresh start… something you refuse to give yourself. But that's not all, what's got you angriest is probably that she is slowly dragging away his attention from you. I guess we'll have to have that talk, huh Sakura?_

"Tsunade," Yamato's had turned to face her, "may I be dismissed?"

She turned up from her thoughts and nodded, but as he turned to leave she added: "Stick to Naruto. Don't help him unless he asks for it, but don't let him go try and do something idiotic like unleashing the Nine-Tails before he's ready. Understand?"

"Yes, Hokage. I'll keep an eye on him." He nodded and walked out without another word. Whatever he'd been thinking about he had obviously resolved on his own. He had a grin on his face that left Tsunade curious, but she decided not to push it. After all, if it was important, he'd have told her.

Tsunade turned back to the folder and focused on a few points that were vacant on the information. She scratched notes into it here and there, telling Iruka what to focus on with her own lessons. She finally added one more note regarding her sensory technique and filled out a form appointing a Hyuga to review Karin's technique for similarities to their Byakugan to see if they could mutually benefit each other. Lastly, she signaled an aide to come in, setting her tone to be neutral and steady even despite how it pained her.

"Bring Haruno Sakura here. I need to speak with her. Tell her it is a direct order from me, and that it is a pressing matter." Tsunade dismissed the man as soon as he'd acknowledged her orders. _I'm sorry Sakura, you're not going to like this one bit, but for right now you and I need to do a little one-on-one training in more than just techniques._

]][[

Naruto sat on a bench alongside a path through one of the slowly rebuilding park areas. A frown creased his face and he was trying to concentrate, but he couldn't get anywhere in his mind. "This is pointless!" he grumbled, "I can use nature chakra and I still can't get this lousy beast under control…" He lifted his jacket and shirt and angrily glared at the seal on his stomach. A few awkward and uncomfortable moments passed before he let his clothes drop back over it and sighed. "How do I even find the entirety of my inner darkness, let alone measure it, let alone control it!" He thrashed aimlessly, more to expend the burning impatience within him and as if he could throw off the confusion like a mess of ropes around him.

"Hmm… if you're going to look that undignified, you should probably do it in your room." a voice intruded on his flailing and struggling.

"Huh? Kakashi?" He turned and saw the familiar silver-haired, masked man. "Oh hey! You're smart, you can help me out here."

Kakashi's visible eye widened and he gazed from the book he was holding back to Naruto and back to the book forlornly. "Well, I can try… but at least give me an idea as to with what."

Naruto stared blankly back for a moment and then smiled, "I need to find some way to 'control' my inner darkness. Whatever the heck that really is." Naruto's smile vanished as quick as he'd finished saying it when he saw Kakashi take on a much more serious posture and expression, closing his book and putting it away.

"Naruto, your inner darkness isn't a joke, or some silly moral lesson. Every ninja has darkness in them, it's part of a job where we see friends die and where we end lives at our hands. You can't take it lightly. The most I can do is try and-"

"I didn't quite mean our baggage, I know that, every ninja has that…" Naruto tried to interject, but Kakashi cut him off as abruptly.

"Naruto that 'baggage', as you put it, is our darkness. Don't underestimate that kind of thing. Even simple actions can weigh heavily on the heart." He paused and saw Naruto's face, seeing the struggle to understand. "…Ah, but you're still so young. I forget that from time to time. You'll understand when you really get there, the most I can offer for a reference is Sasuke. His darkness has complete control of him and I'm sure you could see that." He saw Naruto's face grow more serious at the mention of Sasuke, but continued anyway, "I assume you're meaning to control the Nine-Tails though. So, here, I can at least offer this." Without listening to Naruto start to tell his entire story about the meeting with the Hokage and Bee, he pulled his forehead protector up and let chakra flow into the Sharingan eye he had revealed. He then turned his focus on Naruto, his other eye closing and focusing intently on the chakra surrounding Naruto.

"Kakashi?" Naruto puzzled, interrupted by the sight of the technique.

"Use Kagebunshin please, Naruto."

Naruto obliged him and Kakashi observed the entire process before nodding slowly. "Alright, you can end the technique." While Naruto did, Kakashi closed his eye and restored the band of cloth over it once more. "Naruto, truth is, I can barely sense it, even with this sharingan while you're using chakra. You put your darkness in with the Nine-Tails. I imagine, because that has always been your mental manifestation of it already. You keep yours inside and locked away, you're not like Sasuke who revels in it." He sighed and pulled out his book once more. "You'll need someone who can really see into you and understands it. I can't do anything else for you right now."

Naruto started to open his mouth to object but Kakashi had already started to walk away; his face buried in his book once more. Sitting back down on the bench, he considered what he'd been told. _See into me and understand it? Who can do that? Wait… if it's understanding it, I know someone who does!_

]][[

Yamato dashed along, looking to catch up to Naruto who had wandered off before he had been told to monitor him. _Wonder if he's had any ideas yet. _He mused as he practically collided with Naruto who was dashing towards him. "Woah!" He shouted and came to a sudden stop as Naruto did the same, neither paying too much attention until almost too late.

"Yamato! There you are. I was looking for you." He shouted excitedly.

Yamato raised an eyebrow and defensively asked, "…why?"

"You can take care of my inner darkness with your wood element can't you?"

_Oh geez, where do I even begin to explain this…_ Yamato thoughtfully rubbed his chin with his arms folded across his chest. "Naruto, it's not so much that I 'take care of it'. All I can really do is suppress the powers of the Nine-Tails. Even then, without the crystal pendant, my abilities to do so are diminished even further. I want to help, but you need to learn how to control it on your own. The most I can do is help rein it in when it starts to get out of control… and even then I can only do it if I catch it early. Anything past four tails I don't think I can handle, especially without the pendant." Yamato watched Naruto's face contort in heavy thought once again.

"So if you can't help, I need something that'll let me really get at my inner darkness…"

"Naruto… why can't you do it yourself?" Yamato finally asked, unable to bear the curiosity as to why he kept harping on about finding help.

"Huh?" Naruto stared back at him as though Yamato had asked him something like 'why do people eat'. "Because when I do it alone I can only focus on one thing, one part, one bit of what I feel like is a larger whole. Until I find a way to know I'm at the heart of the whole thing, there's no point is there? I need something to put the whole thing into perspective like how I learned to train with kagebunshin. Or like how I mastered nature chakra. I guess I just need someone who can put it a way I understand."

Yamato closed his eyes and sighed. _Naruto will always do things at Naruto's pace and in Naruto's way…_ he shook his head and started to pace. "Well, it's really a toughie, but it sounds like you need someone who can really recognize how your chakra fluctuates… that's the closest thing right? Since it is so tied to the Nine-Tails?"

Naruto puzzled for a moment and then nodded. "Yeah, I used to be able to use its chakra, but now it's kind of… yeah." He ended lamely, everyone was familiar with what happened recently it seemed.

Yamato paused his pacing with a sudden idea: "So, why not try and find a Hyuga to help you out? Wouldn't Neji be willing to help? He's seen you use the Nine-Tails power in battle before even." Yamato replied.

Naruto started to look hopeful and then suddenly shook his head back and forth repeatedly. "I can't use a Hyuga, that'd be a terrible idea…" Naruto muttered very quietly. Yamato stared and raised an eyebrow in curiosity, obviously something was staying Naruto's hand about them, but he decided not to press it. Naruto finally perked back up, "So do you have any recommendations that aren't a Hyuga?"

Yamato sighed, "No idea, but you may want to resolve that issue with the Hyuga at some point. Especially if you want to be the Hokage." Yamato grinned inwardly: _That ought to get him to take care of that on his own._

Naruto nodded and went to his fallback plan for most situations that required heavy thought: go get ramen. Yamato followed quietly, observing and wondering if he could offer any more pointers or suggest any alternatives. While Naruto noisily ate, Yamato still remained outside in thought, leaning against the entryway. _I wonder what… oh-ho… never mind, I know why you're avoiding the Hyuga so desperately. I'd forgotten about that, but I guess what Hinata did and said are weighing heavily on you aren't they? I only heard about it from others, but she's not going to be courageous enough to confront him on that matter… it's amazing enough she managed to do what she did… But I wonder-_

Naruto's voice broke through Yamato's wandering thoughts, "Ah-ha!" Naruto burst out of the shop quickly and stopped in front of Yamato for a moment, clearly excited. "Yamato! Do you know where Iruka is?"

"Uh… Hmm… yeah, I believe he's out in one of the training fields with that new girl." He replied after taking a moment to remember.

"Thanks Yamato! Gotta go!" Naruto took off at a run, a pace that surprised Yamato given Naruto had just been eating. _Hah, think you can shake me that easily Naruto? What are you planning anyway…_ He started to follow him when a hand was placed on his shoulder.

"Sir, he said you'd cover the bill." the voice of what could only be the shop-owner said.

Yamato turned with an angry glower, reaching for his wallet. _Damn! Naruto, enjoy your head-start because I'm going to be charging you interest!_

]][[

"No, no! You're doing it wrong, the trick with hand seals is to form them as fast you're capable of without messing them up. Don't try go faster, no matter how fast you go if you don't pull them off right, it's a waste of a few precious seconds of battle!" Iruka droned on, giving yet another lecture. Karin had endured a lot of these since their special 'remedial' training lessons to make up for her extreme lack of skill in areas besides healing and sensing. "Remember, your whole abilities are better served by you remaining calm, trying to rush and overdo things will only cost you your advan-"

"Shut up already! You've said that a dozen times! How can I get better if I'm not testing my limits with every move? I have to push things to their absolute breaking point and then do better! It's not like I want to fail! You know what happens to the ones who do?" the outburst was standard, excluding the last bit which had wrenched itself out of her unbidden. Iruka simply stared while Karin put a hand over her suddenly downcast expression. "Look, I'm sorry. I know things are different here in Konoha, but where I've been, if you don't have a purpose and are good at what you do, you wind up on the operating table… or worse, if that's possible."

Iruka sighed, "That's what I'm trying to tell you, don't push yourself so hard, get a good handle on things before you go for something so enormous. Can't master the expert stuff until you've at least got a good grasp on the basics. The only one I know who actually pulls that off on a regular basis is-"

"Hey! Iruka!" a voice called out, the unmistakably enthusiastic voice of Naruto.

"Well, speak of the devil…" Iruka turned and waved at the blond young man running towards him. He nodded to Karin once, "Okay, let's take a quick break and see what he wants."

Karin collected herself, straightening her glasses and smoothing down her clothes as Naruto bounded over, a beaming smile on his face. "Hey, this is great, I was looking for Iruka to ask where Karin was, but here she is already! Though… I think Yamato already said that… oh well!" Karin's face took on a slight pink hue at the fact that he'd been looking for her.

"Well, I'm here, what is it?" she asked, forcing herself to ignore the grin Iruka now wore… or trying to at least. _Look at him grinning ear to ear, what's with him? He acts like he's privy to some huge secret that only he knows about! He isn't even right! It's not like-_ She snapped back to attention when she realized Naruto had started to reply and she had missed the first bit.

"…and that's why I need your help, because you've got that sensor technique of yours and I need to try and gain control of, or eliminate, my inner darkness." Naruto finished, looking a bit ashamed of having to ask for help, but obviously not minding too much.

"Hmm…" Karin stalled, buying herself some time to mull it over in her thoughts without standing there silently. _His inner darkness? I wonder why he specifically needs my technique… well, if he's not bothered hardly at all by asking me, he must've already asked a few people or been trying it a lot already… he's pretty headstrong like that. But… would that mean I'd have to spend a lot of time with him? Oh shit! that's the last thing I need, everyone already seems to think we're some kind of item… though… no! That's a load of crap. I'll decide exactly who and what and where and all that! Yeah! Didn't take it from Suigetsu, not going to take it from Iruka! Okay, so I'll just turn down his request and-_

"Umm, Karin, that's the longest 'Hmm' I think I've ever heard." Naruto interjected, interrupting her thought train entirely as she realized she had been making her stalling noise the entire time. He was staring at her puzzled, but still hopeful.

"Ah!" she clapped a hand over her mouth in embarrassment, before realizing she couldn't talk like that and moved it away again, equally embarrassed. "Sorry, just a bit of a lot to consider."

Iruka chimed in from the side, "Sounds like it'll be good practice for your sensory technique and you can get to know Konoha's number one unpredictable ninja better!"

"Oh shut up, nobody asked you!" Karin snapped, not appreciating the insinuating tone Iruka had taken on clearly to make a jab at her. "Sorry Naruto," and she watched his crestfallen face as she began and immediately regretted it, looking away a bit ashamed, "but I can't, I've got to do these crappy lessons with that idiot," she unsubtly nodded towards Iruka, "as part of my agreement to not be a captive, ya know… prove I'm actually trying to be a good Konoha Ninja."

Naruto started to reply but Iruka dove in and had an arm over each of their shoulders, Naruto looking confused and Karin desperately trying to worm out of his grip. "I just got a great idea!" he grinned deviously, "how about, we all train together, we'll make Naruto's business part of your sensory training and reinforcement, and when he's got a good grip we'll let him fend for himself while we do our own training until he needs you again? Not that I doubt he won't _need_ you a lot, but what do you say?" The extra stress about 'needing him' was not missed by either party, but while Karin directly understood what Iruka was teasing at, Naruto turned defiant.

"Hey! I won't need that much help! I've gotten a lot better at all this training stuff and you know it!" He kept ranting, but Karin didn't hear it as she was too relieved he hadn't picked up on what Iruka had implied. Iruka simply ignored Naruto's heavy complaints and his own failed attempt to cause mischief while he jotted down a few notes on his clipboard, making sure to clear all this with his superiors later. "Iruka, you're not listening! I'm telling you this'll work!"

Karin smiled at Naruto's continued determination to prove his abilities, going so far as to try and demonstrate techniques while Iruka dismissed his actions easily. _He's so stubborn, he won't brood about not being strong enough, he'll just work harder and harder to make sure he is. I think I see why those two had such a close rivalry and friendshi-_ she stopped as she saw someone coming, two people, but one was a figure she recognized very clearly. She stepped behind Iruka to block his line of sight of her and suppressed her chakra immediately, hoping he hadn't noticed her yet.

Seconds later, the other two noticed the guests, Iruka turning to face them and Naruto turning to wave enthusiastically at the arrivals. He even shouted: "Eight-Tails! Yamato!" Karin didn't recognize Yamato, though his chakra felt familiar, she must've sensed him before but he was the least of her worries at the moment. Also, Yamato looked particularly haggard and drained, as though the company he'd been keeping had been near unbearable. _I imagine the Eight-Tails has not given up his habit of rapping… badly._ She didn't have to wait very long to hear the confirmation of that guess.

"Naruto, I heard from Yamato, you got a new method planned! Let me see if that shit works or needs to get banned!" the man known as Bee continued with his rap-dialogue for any conversation. "Hoo!" Karin unfortunately realized she had been seen at the man's exclamation as he continued: "It's the red-head with the Uchiha boy-Akatsuki! Is why you're here anything to do with me?"

Iruka raised an eyebrow but then realized, "Ah, yeah, you were with Sasuke's team snake… or hawk… or Akatsuki… whichever it was at the time." He turned to face Bee and continued to place himself between Karin and Bee, recognizing her uncomfortable posture. "She's with Konoha now, she was basically given no choice in the matters earlier and we apologize on her behalf for any troubles she caused you."

Bee threw his head back and laughed, "Is that so? Well, I'll tell you a secret ya know! I used your group and that Sasuke-boy, and besides, you and your buddies saved his ass, I cracked him like a toy. Wouldn't'a lasted without ya a minute and a half that dumb sucka, my only issue is with his cocky ass, that self-righteous motherfucka!"

It took Karin a second to realize she needed to breathe a sigh of relief. _So even then, others could see how awful Sasuke was getting. I'm kind of sorry I stayed with him so long now, but him saving his friends showed some glimmer of hope for him._ She resumed attention on reality a moment later as Naruto was explaining things to Bee and Yamato excitedly.

"-and that's why I came looking for Karin! I figured it'd be perfect!" Naruto finished.

Bee rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "Alright, we'll see if she can do it, who you pick I don't care, we've gotta get you trained, ain't got time to spare!"

Yamato nodded, "He's right, but first a test. Karin, if your sensor technique is as good as they say, tell me what you see in me." He tensed slightly, obviously increasing his chakra-output for a slightly easier test.

Karin frowned, _More tests? Damn it all, haven't I proven enough already? Maybe I could lie-_ she turned and saw the hopeful look on Naruto's face and knew she couldn't disappoint him so badly. _…So much for that. Well, here goes_… and she focused on the man in front of her, slowly shutting out the other chakra signatures that would distract her from his entirely. Her eyes closed and she focused in solely on the man before her.

Slowly, after nearly a minute of awkward silence Karin opened her eyes again and then she folded her arms to adopt a haughty 'told-you-so' pose. "You're a wood element user, combination of earth and water chakra. Strange as it is to see one anymore. I detect marks of Orochimaru's handiwork on you as well, so you're not entirely a natural one, but you were completely compatible with it. I think you were before my time there, but not by too much. One of his earlier works, your suffering is probably what gave way to Danzo's wood element manipulation with the First Hokage's cells."

Yamato blinked a few times in surprise. Bee only managed a quiet "damn" in an impressed tone. Iruka smiled proudly, happy to see his current student do so well. Naruto was the least restrained of them all, "Yeah! Way to go Karin! I knew you could do it!" She blushed a bit, losing her haughty grandeur at the way she had so accurately deduced things in the presence of Naruto's unreserved praise.

"Well, I'm convinced. That's about as spot-on as someone can get with just a glance." Yamato sounded legitimately impressed, and walked over. "Iruka, you're okay if we borrow your special student for this task?" He saw the other man nod and continued. "Alright, Karin, you're the one for the job. We're going to have you observe Naruto's darkness so he can begin his training to master the Nine-Tails."

Naruto was smiling happily, Iruka had a look of surprise on his face and was about to say something when Karin sort of breathed out a reply: "The… Nine-Tails? Naruto?" she was sort of confusedly pointing at Naruto as she said it.

Bee bust out laughing: "Aww shit! She didn't know, way to fuck that one up bro!" Iruka had his face in the palm of his hand and sighed; Yamato seemed idly dumbfounded; and Naruto was oblivious as always.

"Ah… she… didn't know, did she?" Yamato asked, belatedly and clearly trying to smooth it over.

"No. No she didn't. I had intended to let him tell her that." Iruka replied while Karin continued to stand there stunned and muttering.

"I mean, I had heard those others talking about the Nine-Tails… and I guess… how Sasuke talked about you… now it makes sense… sort of… Naruto?" she was trying to piece together what she could and everyone could tell there wasn't much time before an angry outburst.

Naruto stepped forward, shaking off his confused expression. "I'm sorry Karin, I should've told you, I guess I kind of assumed you already knew, that was my fault." He reached out and put a hand on her shoulder.

She suddenly went rigid, turning a slight shade of pink at his touch and yanked back, "well, I guess it's not…" she started, and turned and saw the others all staring at the scene. She started to growl, ready to shout at Iruka for not telling her sooner. _I even asked him about Naruto! He never answered! Wait… that wasn't what I was asking about then either… was it? No… but… wha… damn it! They're all staring! I'll shut them up!_

"Hey guys, can you give me a minute so I can explain this? In private." Naruto said, right as Karin turned and drew in breath to shout at all of them. Karin's outburst got lost in a bit of a squeak noise as she saw them all nod and turn to leave. It left the two of them alone after the three men agreed and departed. _Just the two of us? That's only going to make them think more things are going on! Dammmniiiittttt!_ She turned to round on Naruto and saw that he wasn't meeting her eyes anymore, looking down and away a bit. Her fury suddenly vanished in a sudden insight _He honestly feels bad about this…_ she could see it in his face. _And… and… there's something else there… dare I risk trying to sense it?_

"Look, Karin, I'm the host of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. A lot of my power comes from it, and I'm not proud of that, but I'm doing my best to make it a good thing, a blessing instead of a curse. That's what I need your help with, I can't do it alone." He was deadly serious in a way she hadn't quite seen him before and it startled her.

"Wait a sec," she said, making a sudden realization, "so all those times I sensed something dark and horrible inside you, it was the fox?"

Naruto blushed a bit, "You've been sensing me…?"

Karin's face flushed completely red, "oh! I'm sorry! I know that was wrong, I shouldn't have, it's just habit, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-" she stammered out excuse after excuse while her face got progressively brighter in embarrassment.

"Ahhh, it's okay… but that uh… doesn't read minds does it?" he tried to laugh the awkwardness of the situation away a bit as he said it.

"Oh~! No, no, it doesn't read minds… I mean… not really, it can sort of get emotional states from people… but no, not thoughts. That's beyond my abilities by a mile I'm sure." She sounded as reassuringly matter-of-factly as she could manage.

"Hmm, that's a relief!" He said and laughed a bit more, which only made her wonder what he was hiding, but she remained quiet as he continued. "Anyways, that only proves that you're the girl for the job. You could sense the fox inside me even then, when I didn't know you were watching!"

She couldn't help but feel a bit of pride. _He really means it… he's actually impressed by that, most people would be furious… and… wait a sec… he's had the fox in him this entire time? Yet… he's so positive… so upbeat… he's carrying a burden every bit as heavy as Sasuke's and look at him. Heh… no wonder you hated him so much Sasuke, you may have been that natural genius, but here's something you couldn't pull off no matter how hard you trained. If only you'd opened up to him more, I'm sure he could've helped you. Instead, you only saw a rival who kept growing stronger and kept eclipsing you. So you turned to the easiest way to find strength… here's someone who never takes the easy way out if it means hurting someone._ She slowly came back out of her thoughts and nodded at the one conclusion she had come to: _I admire him… and I want to help if I can_.

"Naruto, let's try it, I want to see if I can really sense it in you, sure I can prove it to Yamato, but he's different, we need to know if it'll work with you right?" She saw him nod and continued: "Okay, focus on your inner darkness, try to confront it, I'll help you uhm… however I can with this." she ended, slightly embarrassed that she wasn't entirely sure just how she could help, only that she would.

]][[

Naruto sat, his legs crossed and his hands resting in his lap, like he would to channel natural energy. "I'm going to concentrate on it, tell me what you can about what you sense. Okay?"

She nodded in reply, sitting down across from him, making sure not to be close. She remembered what had happened with Bee and his Eight-Tailed chakra, and didn't want to get caught up in anything, knowing the Nine-Tails was even more volatile. _Okay. So far, he's got nothing going on, just the usual chakra emanations…_ "Naruto, I'm not getting anything, I think you need to focus on something else, you're emotionally calm, so I think it's not going to pick up anything bad. I think you need to focus on negative things, the things we all normally try not to think about."

Naruto grit his teeth a little, bracing himself to face unpleasant things, and Karin could feel his aura start to get disturbed. It slowly tinged with darkness, the kind she remembered from Sasuke. "Yes! That's it, I'm sensing your darkness now… it's… eugh!" she grit her own teeth. _This is unpleasant… to say the least! I basically have to reach into the mud and feel around… for something mean and evil._

"Are you okay Karin?" She heard Naruto ask and felt the tenuous grip on the darkness she had starting to slip away as he shifted to concern for her.

"Yeah! Fine, you idiot, focus on you!" she growled back, feeling his darkness surge up a bit as he was rebuked. _This is a pretty inexact thing we're dealing with here…_ she thought and kept her focus on him. "There!" she shouted suddenly as she felt that terrible roar reverberate from him. "That's it! I can 'feel' it, the Nine-Tails in you has your darkness in with it… you're going to have to face it, it's right near the fox."

Naruto groaned a bit, "Just when I thought I could avoid the bastard a little…"

"No!" Karin shouted, "no no, it isn't the fox, he's dark that's true, but you've got to separate your own darkness from him and deal with that first, right?" Naruto grunted agreement, and Karin continued, "just try and visualize it and deal with it in your head, I'll do my best to tell you whether it is getting subdued or growing too much."

Naruto let out a small "mmm" of agreement and approval, and resolve creased his features as he sat there perfectly still. The two sat in silence, Karin was intently focused on Naruto while he was in deep concentration focused inward. Aside from the occasional breeze stirring their clothes and hair, both were motionless and only the occasional words from Karin broke the silence. She'd say things like: "You're letting it get away!" or "No, don't dig too deep!" to keep him focused. The only feature on them that changed and moved was their faces. Karin had begun to sweat from the effort while Naruto actually started to sway a little bit, as though losing his balance despite his stable position.

After a few minutes, he fell backwards panting, and Karin did likewise. "Geez, this is difficult! Every time I think I've got an edge on it, it slips away or evades me!" he complained.

"Oh yeah? You've got the easy part! I've got to try and keep you focused on it, while making sure you don't go deeper than you can handle!" Karin yelled at him.

"This isn't going to be easy…" he muttered.

"Is anything when you're involved…?" Karin asked in a sarcastic fashion, but both started to laugh at the embarrassing level of accuracy in her statement.

"Anyways, lets get those other three back, I'll answer any questions you've got about me and my uhm…" Naruto struggled with how to phrase it.

"Yeah, the fox, I know… and… shit! What'll the others think!" she hurried to her feet and helped him up too, wiping her forehead with her sleeve. "Oh god, the things I'm gonna have to hear from Iruka…" she groaned.

"Like what?" Naruto asked, not bothering to wipe away any sweat. She didn't answer and just pushed him along, back towards where the others were.

]][[

Several minutes later, and many angry rants from Yamato about how dangerous what they had done was, the group had all been caught up and were standing in a loose circle.

"Can't deny that what they did took brass, even if he is a pain in the ass!" Bee noted in his usual rhyming fashion.

"Yeah, okay, sorry, I know it was dangerous, but at least we know what she does works perfectly for it… now if only I could find a way to actually do it…" Naruto was trying to think while pleading to the others for any ideas.

Karin decided to offer whatever analysis she could, _as a matter of scientific pride!_ she told herself. "Firstly, your darkness is most 'exposed' when you're in emotional turmoil. So somewhere rich in bad and powerful memories would probably work best for this. You'd be surrounded by your darkness and it'd be easier to achieve the state you have to be in to actually deal with it in the first place. Secondly, it is kind of awful on me, it wears me out more than you, so I'll need more routine breaks… but the more we do it, the more familiar you're bound to get and it'll get easier. So we should try as frequently as either of us can handle. Lastly, we need to figure out what a 'success' even is… Bee?" she turned to the man, inquiringly.

"Hmmm" the dark-skinned man rubbed his chin, seemingly in thought, but seconds later it was revealed he had been attempting to find a rhyme, unsuccessfully. "I'm gonna have to give this guy some pointers motha'fucka'!"

Yamato cringed. "Alright, we'll split up for a moment, Naruto, get any pointers you can from Bee, I'll set up to help restrain you if you go out of control so we can try again. Iruka, you can take this time to keep training with Karin until we're ready for her again."

"Alright, sounds good!" Iruka nodded.

"…oh goody, I get to work double-shifts." Karin frowned, knowing that she had no say in the matter.

]][[

Karin sat, catching her breath and getting ready to 'sense' for Naruto again. _What a hassle! This is so much work, but I guess I did say I wanted to be pushed to my limits… didn't think I'd wind up regretting that so soon! Ah but… _she looked up and saw Naruto taking deep breaths and readying himself while Bee whispered advice into his ear. _I guess there are worse things I could spend my time doing… or worse people I could spend it with. This way I get to spend more time with him too… and in a way get to know him better? Nah, that's later, he said he'd answer any questions I have… but what should I ask? "Did it suck growing up with the Nine-Tails inside of you?" Oh gee, that'll be a really difficult one to answer. I mean, how 'nice' could that have been? Wow…_ her thoughts were interrupted as she felt the full blaze of Naruto's chakra. _It's practically the opposite of Sasuke… it is hard to look at it's so bright! I guess Bee told him that it's better to go full force… or maybe because Yamato can restrain him now…? Still… wow, that's a lot of energy, it's kind of making me a bit giddy just being close to it and sensing it._

"Karin, we're all ready, let's begin." Yamato said from the side.

"I'm pretty sure the one who gets to say when we start is Naruto, not you Woody." she snidely threw back at him and was rewarded with a growl for the use of his 'nickname'. She heard Naruto and Iruka both chuckle a bit, and grinned.

"I'm ready Karin." Naruto said at last, his eyes closed, his tone and face both wholly serious. She nodded, not that he could see it and closed her eyes as well to resume her focus on him, shutting out the others chakra from her perception to leave just his. When she was done her own preparations, she gave a small 'ready' of her own and felt Naruto start to plunge into his own thoughts.

_Here we go again… _she sighed a bit internally, knowing that the warmth of his chakra was about to go away as he immersed himself in his darkness to try and come to grips with it. _Ugh, it's so savage and selfish! How much of this is the fox and how much is Naruto though? I can't quite separate the two as well I'd like to be able to. No… this can't be Naruto, not him, he's stronger than that… wait… huh?_ She snapped out of her thoughts and called out "Naruto! That! Whatever you're thinking of! Focus on it. More! What you've got right now feels more like 'you' and less like the fox!" _That's it! That's what I can ask him about! …wait… if I ask him about all the negative stuff in his life to try and learn what I can focus on and help him discover… that'll drive a pretty big wedge between us. This sucks… either I do my job better… or I get to know him better… wonder if I can somehow juggle both…_ she snapped out of her thoughts suddenly and signaled Yamato. "Rein him in a bit, I can feel it slipping away."

"On it!" he replied, clapping his hands together and summoned several branches that twined around Naruto who remained motionless even as energy bubbled out over him. The branches seemed to be eating the energy and kept from expanding any further. "I'm holding it back, but I can't reduce it without messing this up for you!" Yamato added.

Karin nodded and kept her focus on Naruto. "Okay, Naruto, you have to focus on the things that are negative for you, not the fox. Its hatred and darkness are getting in the way, but you need to solve your own before you can worry about it." She kept her voice flat and even, so as not to interrupt his concentration or her own. Naruto gave no sign that he'd heard her, but she could sense his darkness ebb and change slightly. _This is going to be a very long day…_ she thought bitterly and kept focusing and guiding where she could.

]][[

Hours later, the training was over. Karin was lying on her back on the grass staring at the night sky, a few feet from Naruto who was doing the same. The others had left, having various things to do and having been satisfied with the progress both the two young ninja had made today.

"Ugh, my whole everything hurts." Naruto whispered.

"At least you don't feel like you've been surrounded by the dark and disturbing all day. I'm having a hard time remembering happy things are possible." Karin countered.

"No matter what I do, I can only fight it to a standstill! It's no good… though I suppose that's a step up from not even being able to confront it…"

"Yeah, come on, look on the bright side, you get to achieve some great new power if you succeed. All I get is a pat on the back and a 'thanks for the hard work'!"

"Karin?" Naruto rolled on to his side to sort of face her.

"Yeah?" She matched his motion to look back at him.

"Is it really that much of a burden to you?" He sounded sincerely apologetic.

She paused, considering his tone and thought about it, then smiled warmly, "If it were anyone else, I'd say yes." and was inwardly elated when she saw him smile happily at her reply.

"So, how's Konoha for ya?" He quickly threw out, changing the subject.

"Hah, what little of it I get to see is nice, I suppose it feels good to really have a purpose again though. I mean, under Orochimaru you only have his purposes, and under Sasuke was no different. Under Akatsuki was the worst, I didn't even know what purposes we were being put to, but they weren't good, that's for sure." She mused and saw his rapt attention and felt compelled to continue. "I like it here. It's just, I feel like I'm worth more and, like I said, having a purpose of your own makes all the difference."

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, I can empathize with that. I didn't have a purpose for a while, even here. Part of the whole 'you have the thing that destroyed the village inside you' deal. Now I'm a hero. It's a bit of a switch."

Karin smirked, "Something tells me you were always playing the hero, or at least, wanted to be." Naruto grinned with a 'caught me' expression on his face. Karin sighed, but all of a sudden flashed a mischievous grin: "So I'm curious, why were you so worried about me reading your thoughts? Got something naughty going on up in that blonde mess?"

Naruto's face turned a light shade of pink and he rolled onto his back again. "Ahh, it's just umm… your thoughts are private ya know?"

She matched his motion again and stared at the night sky. "Yeah… yeah I do."

"Hmm?"

"Oh, was just thinking about some things."

"Like what?"

"Well, like what you're going to do after you master that thing inside you."

"Oh… well, it doesn't really matter does it? I'm just glad you got to know me for me, and don't think less of me because of it."

She felt her face flush at that, "Geez you're dense sometimes you know?" she mustered as much haughtiness as she could to recover her poise, "I just meant, I've been seeing you everywhere, and now this training? I can't get away from you it seems. I'll only be getting away from you after this training is over it looks like."

"Oh! Oh… did you want to?" he sounded crestfallen.

"No!" the answer was jerked from her before she could think about it and all of her poise went with it, her face turning a bit brighter a shade of pink. "I just meant…"

"It's okay, I know what you mean. This all feels a little forced or coincidental…" His voice betrayed a bit of confusion, as though he was only saying it to stop her from having to explain it for him.

"Well, I keep getting shunted around from circumstances and people giving me only a few options. I kind of want to pick for myself." She held up a hand as though to grab the stars above her.

"Well, I guess I can't really complain about these circumstances and people… they brought you here after all…" he mused idly and heard a tiny gasp from her before she could stifle it. He laughed nervously, trying to cover up what he'd said somewhat, "Heh, what would you pick for you, Karin?"

"I think…" She turned to look at him staring up at the sky. She stared quietly at the wonder on his face and the friendly smile she'd grown familiar of. "I think I'd pick…"

He slowly turned to look back at her, realizing she'd been staring at him. "Karin? Are you alright? Your face is all red, I can see it even in the twilight."

She shook her head a bit and sat up, turning away from him and breathing heavily. _What in the world is going on? Why can't I look at his face? Every time I try, I feel like… like…_ She got up and looked over her shoulder at him. "I… I… I'll see you tomorrow." she dashed away, expecting him to follow and relieved when he didn't. She fell onto her bed and lay there, staring at the ceiling and not even seeing it. Her heart was beating so fast and so hard she felt she could hear it in the still darkness. _Oh my god, my chest is so tight… this isn't like him… this isn't like me around him! This isn't some crush on good looks… this is… this is… do I like him? _She mouthed a word at the ceiling, not pronouncing it outside of her head. If anyone had seen it, they would've been certain it could only have been one thing. "Naruto."

]][[

_What other obstacles could lie in the path of Naruto's training? The maidens of Konoha!_

]][[


	4. The Maidens of Konoha

**Author's Notes:**

**This is the last of D-Spiral story for me...**

**End Author's Notes**

_Chapter 4: _The Maidens of Konoha

Naruto sat on the grass, once again attempting to battle and subdue his inner darkness. The past few days had been rough, for all involved parties. Yamato could tell Naruto was straining to find his inner darkness unlike the first day with Karin's sensory help. Karin, meanwhile, was doing everything she could to not focus on him. He wasn't sure what had happened, but he knew the two of them were having difficulties.

"What's wrong with the two of you? For the past three days, the two of you haven't made even noticeable progress." Yamato, who'd finally lost patience at the unproductive sessions, chimed in.

Karin rounded on him angrily, "Naruto just doesn't want to find his darkness, he's too busy thinking about other things, it isn't even worth focusing on him right now!" she shouted, gesturing angrily towards him as he slowly got to his feet.

"Karin, I am just having a little difficulty… I've been feeling really… positive lately…" Naruto sort of trailed off, unable to really express his actual thoughts as he clambered to his feet.

"See? There he goes again! He's hiding what he's thinking and he's not thinking about confronting his darkness at all!" Karin argued.

"Fine fine! I'll do it, we're starting again!" Naruto angrily called out and sat back down in a huff. Karin rejoined him seconds later and started to focus.

"Naruto! Slow down! That's too much!" she shouted, but he didn't seem to heed her. Yamato startled in reaction and looked to Bee. The dark-skinned man nodded and they both clapped their hands together after forming numerous hand seals. The suppression techniques activated seconds after Naruto's features started to take on a more bestial appearance. His chakra bubbled over and the first tail began forming only for it to suddenly be pinned under several wood-formed dragon-images and for the sudden appearance of an apparition of the Eight-Tails slapping Naruto backwards. The blonde tumbled backwards and left the horrible chakra behind, almost as if he'd been torn out of it. The bestial 'after-image' of his chakra dissipated and Naruto's features returned to normal.

"That's it, take a break, both of you stay put. We're going to have to talk this over." Yamato commanded, Bee nodded agreement and released the technique that had unlocked his bijuu powers temporarily to subdue the emerging Nine-Tails chakra. The two of them looked at Naruto and Karin and saw a strange play of emotions on the faces of both.

Naruto looked ashamed at his sudden loss of control, the first time since his lessons had really begun. He was looking anywhere but Karin, who had her gaze cast down at the ground and seemed very upset. She looked lost in her own thoughts and Yamato had a guess, but Iruka came forth and put a hand on his shoulder. "I'll talk to her, you take Naruto." Iruka didn't wait for Yamato to reply and walked over to Karin, offering a hand up off the ground. "C'mon, take a walk with me. We should chit chat a little. I've got some suggestions for techniques too."

Yamato looked at Naruto: "Oi, you, lets go, we'll go the other way and have a little talk about just how dangerous it is for you to be trying to prove a point about your powers." Naruto shook off his dazed state and made a small mumble of assent and followed the man as he led the way.

Bee sat down and closed his eyes, focusing inward. _Bee. You felt it didn't you? That boy has an absurd amount of power. I can't even imagine how strong he'll end up getting if he can master the Nine-Tails, but you and I both felt it. The fox isn't going to cooperate easily._ Bee smiled and said aloud (and inside as well, but with no one around anymore he needn't concern himself with appearances), "Got that right, he ain't like you, he's a grade-A pain in the ass foo'." _Oh for the love of…! Bee, stop rapping. This is serious, if that boy can't get a hold of things, we're all in a lot of trouble._ "Got that right, he and that fox need to get tight." _…I wonder if that Karin girl is really a good idea? You saw the way she's been looking at him._ "Yeah, and the darkness he can't reach is because he's kinda got the hots for teach." _Only you would call that 'kind of', he likes her, she likes him. It is clear as day, that's the thing causing problems lately._ "Better not be askin' me to go and be steppin', boys and girls deserve what they be gettin'." _No, I am not going to try and tell you to break them apart, but they need to master their emotions. She can't focus on him, and he can't put her out of his thoughts_. "Ah, you got me there, but they sure make a cute pair. Give them a bit longer, if they resolve it on their own they'll just get stronger! WHEEE!" _For once, I agree with your idiotic rapping._ After that, the Eight-Tailed beast fell silent within him once more and Bee looked around. "Wonder how long a break we takin? I think I'll get some food, my stomach's achin'."

]][[

"So just what is eating you up so badly Naruto? You've not been yourself these past few days at all. You can barely focus, you seem in a good mood during training but you can't accomplish a thing. What's going on?" Yamato inquired, having already finished his lecture about the dangers of the fox and on Naruto taking it lightly.

Naruto shook his head, trying to clear the heavy air of being sternly lectured before he replied, "It's nothing…" but could tell from one look on Yamato's face that no amount of dismissal was going to get him to drop it. "Okay, okay, the problem is one of uh… um… a female kind?" Naruto blushed a bit, obviously embarrassed and not sure how to really go about saying it all. This was one of those problems that the young man had clearly not really faced before or even given voice to his thoughts on it until now.

"Oh geez, I had figured it was this kind of thing but that didn't make me ready to hear it." Yamato resolved himself to try and help, "So is it with Hinata?"

"Yeah, it is." he replied.

"Okay, well-" Yamato began.

"And Sakura" Naruto interrupted.

"…caught between two?" Yamato was surprised and opened his mouth to continue before Naruto interrupted him again.

"And Karin."

"…Naruto, how did you wind up torn between three girls?" Yamato asked, before he could even stop himself.

"I don't know! Sakura was kind of always there… and… well, yeah, Hinata was always there too! Now Karin's here and my thoughts are all muddled about it!" Naruto poured out as though he'd had no one to even mention this to yet and was glad for any kind of audience.

"Naruto, I'm not so sure you should tell me every little detail-" Yamato began.

"I like Sakura, she was my first crush, but she's so heavily in denial about Sasuke and then there was that fake confession to me that I think was kind of real. It's strange, I want to like her but it doesn't feel like I really like her. It is-" Naruto cut off as Yamato's terror face appeared.

"I don't want to know! This isn't your job to spill your heart out to anyone. Do you wanna die?" Yamato asked him, taking advantage of the effect his terror-face has on Naruto. Naruto shook his head side-to-side in sudden silence and Yamato continued. "Good," he dropped the terror-face, "so here's what you're going to do Naruto. Stop, take a few minutes, and think about how you feel on each one. You're going to have to resolve this, and if I even attempt to help you it is only gonna hurt your efforts with all of them."

Naruto nodded and closed his eyes, fortunately not seeing Yamato roll his own eyes at Naruto's silly gesture of concentration to 'think'. _How do I feel? Well… let's see…_

_Sakura. She's so pretty, I've always been interested in her, haven't I? _

_Hinata. She's the purest, nicest person I've ever met. She's always been around me, and always trying to help._

_Karin. The new girl… she's different, she's beautiful and I enjoy her company so much… she's so unique._

He opened his eyes slowly, "I feel like it's gonna take more than a few minutes…"

Yamato chuckled, "That's something I can understand. Fair enough. Well, how about you-"

"Naruto!" a voice called out, the two turned to see the newcomer, and recognized him instantly.

"Oh! Neji! Hey!" Naruto called back, waving at him. "Can I get a minute?" he asked Yamato, obviously happy to have been bailed out of the difficult topic.

Yamato nodded, "I'll let you two chat, I've got to go confirm a few things with Iruka and Bee. Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone." Naruto flashed an idiotic grin and made a noise of agreement. Yamato shrugged, knowing it was the best he was going to get and figuring he wouldn't be too far away even if something were to happen he'd sense it instantly.

Neji approached Naruto, walking past Yamato and the two nodding in recognition of each other. Naruto beamed at Neji, that familiar grin of random fortune on his face. "Juken!" he shouted and slammed a palm into Naruto's chest with blinding speed that sent him hurtling back.

Naruto rolled in the dirt and slowly dragged himself to his feet, "Hey, what the hell! What was that for!" he yelled, clutching his chest. Iruka and Yamato started to move forward at the sight of the fight, but Bee said something that stopped them.

Neji fell back out of the combat stance he'd adopted to land the blow and walked towards Naruto. "Relax, I didn't use much, just enough to vent some frustration at you. You know why I did it too, so don't play dumb. You can't keep ignoring my cousin, I won't stand for it."

"I wasn't planning to… really, it isn't like that." Naruto's pained expression changed slightly, no longer a wince of physical pain, now one of a more internal turmoil. "It's just that… well…"

Neji shook his head, "This isn't something I care to tell you how to do, only that you actually do something. Your cowardice and avoidance of it is a mockery to everything you've shown me thus-far about yourself. Naruto, you're better than this. You never give up on things or take the easy way out. Quit ignoring your responsibilities here!" Neji's voice had raised a bit, driving the point home to Naruto with a ruthless efficiency.

Naruto was honestly surprised to see Neji actually showing concern for his cousin. _Either he's gotten better about this kind of thing, or it really is serious… _he sighed aloud, his thoughts drifting a bit back to that moment…

]][[

She had leapt in and swung at Pain, he had dodged it effortlessly, clearly an opponent far greater than anything she could handle. Naruto had seen it in her face, she both knew Pain was too strong and didn't care. She was throwing her life on the line for him.

"I won't let you lay another finger on Naruto!" she'd shouted and Naruto had begged her to fall back against such a foe, but she had only calmly told him "I know…"

All of his begging and arguments had fallen on deaf ears. "I'm… just being selfish…" she'd said, before adding "I'm here of my own free will."

After that, she had said words that he did not, no, couldn't forget. "…I used to always cry and give up… I nearly went the wrong way… but you… you showed me the right way… I was always chasing you… wanting to overtake you… I just wanted to walk with you… I just wanted to be with you… you changed me! Your smile saved me! So I'm not afraid to die protecting you!" she had shouted, and Naruto knew exactly what she would say next.

"Because I… love you…" and then she'd attempted to attack Pain. Naruto bitterly remembered the result, feeling the anger, sorrow, and outrage welling up inside him once more. He quelled it, she was okay, so he needn't let that foulness take him over again. He hadn't been ready for it, he still wasn't sure how to take it. Part of him had known all along, but the rest of him didn't think it at all. He found even then he would've dashed her hopes if it could've meant saving her from that, but seeing the look in her face he knew he couldn't. That… and something had held his tongue. He had begged her not to fight, but after she'd finished saying her piece, he couldn't even speak at all.

]][[

Naruto shook his head. "Neji… that isn't what I want. I don't even know what I want right now. I can't entirely-" Naruto began meekly…

…and was solidly punched in the face. No 'gentle fist' style, just a raw blow to the cheek that staggered him backwards. "Snap out of it! What's wrong with you? The Naruto I knew wouldn't be this confused, this dismayed, and this helpless. The Naruto who beat me and showed me a way that even these eyes could not see would never ignore a friend." Naruto's expression kept growing more and more somber under Neji's withering barrage. "I don't care if you don't return her feelings, that's not my business, but she deserves to hear your feelings about her from you, regardless of what they are… and she deserves to hear it now."

"He's right, ya know." Another voice chimed in. Naruto, who'd been rubbing his face turned to see the newcomer.

"Ino?" He asked, a little confused why she was here and not liking the look of it.

"Hi Naruto… sorry to butt in like this, but I feel he's got the right idea and you can't really stall this any longer."

"I'm not stalling!" Naruto complained, throwing up his arms in frustration at the way everyone had been treating it.

"Then what are you doing?" Neji demanded.

"I… I don't know." Naruto replied, unable to look back at him.

Ino held up a hand to stop Neji who looked as though he were about to get violent once more. "Beating him up any more won't do any good. He's already clearly suffering through this on the inside." She said calmly, and saw she was right when Naruto looked towards her as though grateful for the support. "But… Naruto, you can't act like this only bothers or effects you. I know Sakura is going through a lot of turmoil over this and I'm sure Hinata is too. Neither of them are going to do anything past what they've already done. I can't imagine either of them being brave enough to approach you… and they really shouldn't have to."

"Wha… what did Sakura do? She was lying about that confession to try and get me to leave Sasuke to her." Naruto asked, confusedly.

Neji sighed and shook his head but Ino just chuckled a bit, "Classic Naruto… that was the first time she could say something like that to you, you don't really think she made up every last bit of it do you?"

Naruto looked skyward, as though an answer would fall from it, or like he could fly away and avoid all this. He took a deep breath, "You're right. Of course there was more to it… even I could tell that. I just didn't want to really see it."

Ino reached out and put a hand on his shoulder comfortingly. "Look, I have a hunch on where your fancy lies… and I'm sure Neji does too-" she saw him nod "-and whoever has it, you need to tell them all anyway. It's your responsibility."

"Well, I have a strange relationship… erm… I have mixed feelings about them all. It isn't something I can easily explain."

"But! Your hesitation is gonna be your undoing if you keep it going like that." A new voice chimed in, a bark accompanying it that revealed it to be none-other than Kiba with his best friend Akamaru. Naruto groaned at the arrival of yet another person here to give him a 'talk' about this, but stifled it quickly enough to not really show it or anger any of the three. "If you keep this inside and don't do anything you're gonna wind up like… sorry Ino…" He paused, hesitant, but Ino had a sorrowfully resolved look on her face, she already knew what he was going to say and nodded for him to continue. "Well… like Sakura. She's still trying to keep it all bottled up inside and sort it all out herself without telling anyone or expressing it fairly or honestly to the people it involves. Heck, look what she did last mission! She screwed us over, nearly killed herself, and got you all poisoned up! Then she's back here acting like she's some high authority because the Hokage likes her as a star pupil, and theeen-" he started to continue but a loud 'ahem' from Ino made him remember that he'd already made his point and was now simply bashing her.

"Uhh… yeah! So…" Kiba tried to recover, but Ino cut him off.

"The point is, Naruto, you need to take responsibility, you're not a kid anymore."

"Maybe he still is." Neji teased, causing Naruto to fluster, but Ino held up a hand to stop everyone from fighting or commenting.

"Okay, that's enough. Let's go." Ino turned to leave with Neji and Kiba, but stopped, "Oh, I've got to ask him one more thing, you two go ahead, I'll catch up." The other two nodded, kept walking, and slowly struck up conversation between themselves, mostly about Kiba's disappointment that he'd missed Neji hitting Naruto.

Naruto stared awkwardly as Ino walked back towards him and leaned in close to whisper. Before she began, Neji turned, apparently unable to bear a comment from Kiba (something along the lines of "Wow, didn't know Ino could boss you around!") and shouted "Naruto you have three days! If at that point you haven't talked to Hinata, you'll have to deal with me, and I won't hold back!"

Naruto groaned. _Oh great, a time limit_. He heard Kiba laughing and then promptly dodging blows from Neji, but the two left. Ino only shook her head and laughed a bit before leaning back towards him. "I'm going to help you a bit."

Naruto's eyes widened and he was suddenly very interested, and she led him away a bit so as to be completely out of earshot. Naruto was oblivious to the funny looks this got, Iruka chuckled, Bee had to hold back outright laughing, and Yamato had his face in his hands, thinking Naruto had 'broadened his horizons' even farther.

]][[

Ino sat down on a fallen tree log, kicking her feet up to the remains of a branch to sit in a pixyish pose while Naruto stood nearby. "So…!" she said, grinning, obviously enjoying her role in this.

Naruto scratched the back of his head absentmindedly. _I never knew Ino enjoyed gossiping… then again, I don't really see her that much._ "So you said you'd help me out somehow, right?"

Ino nodded, "That's right. I know who all has your fancy…"

Naruto was shocked out of his confused posture, "How do you know?"

Ino giggled, "Oh come on Naruto, you're not exactly good at keeping things private." He said nothing in response, only staring back at her determinedly. "But then again, that's a good thing in some ways… and you're more courageous than anyone I've ever known. Truth is," she looked away as her face turned a bit pink, but then turned back with a mischievous smile, "if you were just a bit cuter I'd be interested in ya too!" and stuck her tongue out at him.

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Come on, don't say things like that, it's already bad enough!"

Ino recoiled a bit in surprise, "Oh? Bad enough? You're the only guy I know who'd say having the interest of three girls is bad. Of course, that's only because you can't be there for each one. You'd never mean it negatively. I know that."

Naruto had caught on one word and ignored everything else. "Three?"

Ino smiled warmly at him, amused at both his innocence and his curiosity. "Yes, three. Unless you've been even busier than I thought and there are some I don't know about… but that's just unlikely." She tapped a finger to her lips thoughtfully for a moment, stopping in time to interrupt Naruto just as he opened his mouth. "I know Hinata loves you, I don't think anyone in the village doesn't know that. So I don't really have anything to tell you aside from the fact that one is clearly your move."

Naruto nodded his begrudging agreement.

"As far as Sakura goes…" she sighed loudly. "I want to tell you to choose her. I want you to help her… but… I can't. She's in so deep in her own mess now… the only one who can help her out of it is her. Until she's ready, even if you were to respond to her feelings in kind, she wouldn't be able to handle it. I only… well… be good to her. She is more fragile than she wants to think she is."

Naruto nodded, and Ino was pleased to see that he seemed to have resolved himself entirely to making sure Sakura wasn't hurt in the end. "You've got it Ino, I'll make sure she's okay no matter what it comes to. I promise."

Ino hopped down from the log and poked Naruto. "That about covers it! But don't go approaching any of them until you know yourself for certain! Don't go feeling obligated, figure your own heart out and go from there. If you're still not ready, tell them that you're not ready, not any of us… but only if you really mean it. No more using that excuse!"

Naruto got flustered, "Hey! What about the third!"

"Oh?" Ino looked genuinely confused for the moment and saw the angry expression on Naruto's face. "Oh! Heh, well, c'mon, you don't need to really be told do you?" Naruto started to get flustered and she could tell he wasn't going to drop it at all. "Okay okay! Well, let me put it this way. If my guess about how you feel is right, then my guess about her is right too."

Naruto stopped to think about it, staring down towards the ground to kick at a tuft of dirt. "I think… that makes sense…" he said absentmindedly before turning back up to look back at Ino only to see a log sitting there with a smiling face painted on it. He turned to look rapidly left and right before seeing her standing near a distant tree.

"Sorry to cut out on you, but I can only tell you what you already know! It'd not be fair to gossip on the girls that heavily, besides, I think we both know you already know what you want and from who!" she shouted from the distance.

Naruto stood flabbergasted before shouting back: "That's not fair, you never told me all about the third one!"

Ino's giggle could faintly be heard, "Naruto! Come on, we both know you have a thing for the redhead!" she shouted before she vanished behind the trees.

Naruto sighed, knowing it'd be pointless to try and chase her. She'd said her piece… _and she was right. I really didn't need to hear what she had to say, was it really that obvious to everyone?_ he shook his head, clearing that thought away when he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Naruto, we're taking the rest of the day off after some agreement. You've got to get your head on right. No more accidents or mishaps during training, we can't afford it and Bee says that he needs to investigate something." Yamato's voice came from behind him.

"What? But we barely started!" Naruto complained, never one to give up training and turning around to face him. His tone fell flat at the end of his complaint, Yamato had his familiar terror face present.

"Really want to argue that with me?"

"Ahh… no… that's okay. Uhm, what is Bee investigating though?" Naruto choked out in reply, obviously defeated by the face Yamato used regularly as of late.

He dropped the terror face, "Well, it's classified. I can't just up and tell you. Besides, another reason is that Iruka insists you need a day to get your 'affairs in order… before you have one'." he shrugged, "those aren't my words by the way."

Naruto looked confused but quickly snapped out of it. He mustered his most sincere tone he could manage and pushed all the earnestness into it he could: "Alright, I'm going to go spend some time alone. Please don't send anyone after me, I won't try anything stupid."

Yamato considered it for a moment, "No, but we'll keep a nice distance. Fair?"

Naruto paused to consider it, "not going to get much better am I?" he smiled awkwardly, saw the nod from Yamato and then added, "Yeah, sounds good. I'll be on top of the Hokage monument."

Yamato seemed about to reply but then dropped it without saying anything. He turned around and walked away, waving to Naruto as the blonde youth walked in another direction.

]][[

The stone underneath him was firm and reassuring, he sat on it while quietly looking out over Konoha's reconstruction. The village was slowly rebuilding itself back into something that looked like what he'd known. _A lot of people would be upset about it never 'being the same' again, but that's okay, times change. The people are alright and that's what really matters._ He thought quietly about it, but then he sighed. _That's not why you're up here Naruto. You have to figure this out… let's start with Sakura._ He stared up at clouds moving through the sky sluggishly, almost as reluctant as he was to really consider the things he knew he had to at the moment.

His thoughts drifted to the pink haired girl that he knew was going through a hardship of her own. He thought of her when she had long hair, when she had short hair, covering everything he knew about her from the first time he saw her to the last time he saw her this weekend. _She's a good person, she doesn't deserve a lot of what she puts herself through. Unfortunately… she's so hung up on Sasuke… there was a time when I felt like I loved her. It was when I failed to bring him back… that's when it changed_. He groaned aloud, never having quite come to terms with that particular failure. It wasn't that he couldn't forgive himself for it, it was more that it never stopped hurting whenever he recalled it. _Still, that's when it all changed. I realized that even if I'd brought him back, she'd never look at me the way she looks at even the memory of him. Especially with the way she swore she'd help the next time. She's been trying so hard and I just want to help her. She feels more like a sister I never had._ He shot to his feet. "That's it!" he shouted out loud to himself. _She's like a younger sister… I would've said older once upon a time, but she's going through a crisis right now that… well, honestly, I have to help her through it. She's always sort of counted on others, doesn't really seem like a big sister! Anyways, that's how I feel about her, one of my best friends, one of my… family really. Like the rest of Team 7._ He nodded, a smile growing on his face at his success of figuring it out.

A large grin on his face, he sat back down. "One down, two to go, eh?" he gave himself a fake punch in the arm. _Alright, who is next… well, if we're going in order of how long we've really known them. Hinata._ His grin faded instantly, he knew it wasn't going to be easy at all. He had come to his conclusion on Sakura pretty easily, but her recent troubles had made her more easily understandable. Hinata, on the other hand… _I can't lie to myself on this one. I like her. What happened with Nagato… that's proof enough right there. I wouldn't have responded even half that violently without my emotions being directly involved. Every time she comes closer to me, she gets more and more hurt. First with Neji… then over the years there've just been more, the way she stood up to Nagato was almost certain, only his own powers had brought her back from her suicidal charge. _He leaned downwards, unable to really face out at the brightness around him and staring instead into the shadow he cast on the rocks. _Hinata… I want to protect you… I want to keep inspiring you… _he gazed outwards into the horizon. _I don't know what it is you see in me with those eyes of yours, but whatever it is, I don't want you to lose it because of me._

_Hinata… I think… I think she's better off without me entirely. Err… hmm, no, she's my friend. Probably my best friend in all of Konoha, she's the only one who'll reliably stand up for me. _He chuckled, remembering the Chuunin exam when she tried to help him cheat. _Always risking absolutely everything about herself to try and help me… I want her to be safe. I don't think she'll ever be that way the more she tries to be like me and around me. So… I always want to keep her safe and protect her and she's my best friend, but she's not…_ he stopped and continued aloud. "She's not you. Is she?"

He looked back upwards. "I can try and fool myself all I want, but she's not you… Karin." _How did all that start? _His thoughts drifted to the way he'd first seen her, in the middle of an argument with Sakura. She'd been full of fire and energy, and… _I have to be honest with myself at least, she is pretty. The way her hair falls unevenly and haphazardly on one side but perfectly smooth on the other. The way she always straightens her glasses with her arms folded. At first, I really thought I was interested just because of the fact that she knew about Sasuke. That may have been the reason I first gave her my attention, but… every time I saw her after that…_

Naruto leaned back and lay on the rock, staring upwards, arms spread wide. _I keep seeing her, and now this training together. It's like fate. How would I not feel this way about such a pretty girl… and she's not like Sakura or Hinata. She's so full of her own person. When she's unsure it's so cute, she does her best to hide it but it only makes it more plainly visible. She doesn't hide who she is._ "Wonder who that reminds me of!" He laughed aloud at his sarcastic comment. _She's a lot like me in her own way._

_I'm getting off topic._ He reminded himself. _It's not like Sakura, who was a crush and is now more of a sister. It's not like Hinata, who is my friend and always will be someone I want to protect. I can argue all the reasons for why I might feel things for Karin… but the truth is. I feel them. There's no use lying or trying to guess about how it started. The point is… I'm in love with her. _He smiled at the thought.

"Now… how the hell… do I tell any of those three?" his smile vanished and he slapped a hand across his face. "This is going to take a while…"

]][[

She sat in her room, staring up at a dot in the distance. She was looking at the Hokage monument, and could just barely make out a figure on top of it. "Maybe I'm new here, but that seems a bit disrespectful. Who would stand on the monuments besides the Hokage?" She shook her head, not really wanting to, but forcing herself back to focusing on her earlier thoughts.

_I only like him because he's like Sasuke! _she thought, trying to rationalize her out of control emotions. "Except he's not like Sasuke. He's everything good that was in Sasuke with none of the bad." she admonished herself aloud. _Yeah, well he's not six kinds of hot like Sasuke is! Sasuke had that raw sex-appeal that makes a girl shiver!_ she gave a mock little squirm to help emphasize her mental point; acknowledging that even if she had written off any interest in Sasuke, she could still think he was sexy.

"Except…" she brushed her hair out of her face a bit with a casual gesture. "Except Sasuke didn't make me smile. He never made me feel safe… and happy… and wanted." She stared back at the dot trying to distract herself, but it was useless. _Sasuke's smile never made me giddy and speechless._ She sighed, suddenly and vividly aware that she was fighting a losing battle against her own emotions. She blushed a bit before adding, "and he is kind of cute…"

"Wait wait, this is all normal, he's a hero figure here! I'm just getting attached to his reputation and all his talent!" she slapped a fist into an open palm as though she'd found the solution to her troubles. _But that isn't true. You didn't know about any of that until later. You don't care about it either. The first time you saw him all you thought was that he was an idiot who was willing to throw his life down to stop Sasuke. _She put her hands to her head, hoping to drown out the unmistakable truth in her mind. _He's a hero, sure, but he's a great person too. In fact, he hasn't let any of that get to his head. He's as determined and courageous as he always has been._

"Yah…" she took off her glasses and started cleaning them on a cloth she pulled out of a pocket. "…and this isn't just some silly idolization. This isn't some crush on the first remotely handsome, and relatively sane… at the time… hottie that gets brought into the lab. Here I'm free to make my own choices, and surrounded by good people. This isn't anything like Sasuke… or anyone else for that matter…" she put her glasses back on and turned around to go outside. She sighed a bit, more amused at herself for what she couldn't deny as the truth any longer: "I'm in love with that blonde idiot." she said and closed the door behind her as she left.

]][[

The two of them sat on the benches in one of the many parks damaged and shattered by Pain but slowly growing back. Sakura sat quietly on a bench opposite Tsunade, the two facing each other across the walkway. Tsunade's face was one of concern and worry, while Sakura had an expression of disinterest but kept it 'polite' as though a matter of business. The two hadn't spoken in nearly five minutes, and aside from their unbroken stares at each other, no one would know they were there together; Sakura having been summoned by an assistant to come and speak with the Hokage.

"Sakura…" Tsunade attempted to start conversation again.

"I don't need to hear it, I know what you're trying to say, but it's not the case." she replied curtly.

"I'm only trying to help…"

"That's the problem! Everyone is trying to help resolve some issue I don't even have!" she shouted, angrily gesturing as she did. "I don't need any guidance about how I feel, I need to get stronger to stop Sasuke!"

Tsunade shook her head slowly. "What Sasuke did and continues to do is not your fault Sakura. Naruto too. You can't hold yourself accountable for everything bad that happens with the people you care about. We all have our own problems to deal with, don't go borrowing troubles you can't solve from others!" She took a deep breath to calm herself of the frustration she was feeling at how disinterested Sakura looked.

"Look, Sakura, you are strong enough. No one can argue it. We've all seen your determination and spirit." she saw the impatience on Sakura's face and continued more vehemently. "Stop that, really listen! You are strong, you just can't expect to be strong enough to beat him and you're not an underhanded person who would be good at sneaking a kunai between his ribs. You're a good person, that kind of murder isn't your style. You've only had difficulty because the circumstances have been completely wrong."

"The circumstances are my power not being enough!" the girl yelled in reply.

"No! It's because you don't put any trust in your allies and don't put any value in yourself! Stop trying to do it all on your own, you've got to forgive yourself all of this. That you couldn't do it alone doesn't mean you're a bad person or need to improve. Let others help you do the things you can't do by yourself. Even Naruto lets others help him. More than any of that…" Tsunade paused, catching her breath in surprise at how vehemently she was attempting to argue this point, "…you've got to let Sasuke go."

Sakura looked as though she'd been slapped, the indignity causing her to angrily clench her fists. "…let him go?" she measured out her words with careful precision, only keeping herself from yelling at Tsunade through intense effort. "How could you tell me to do that? How can you encourage Naruto so much and then ignore me like that?"

Tsunade started to try and correct her, but Sakura yelled out before she could be told anything else. "I'll get stronger! I just don't know how yet! Maybe instead of trying to tell me to give up you should try and help me!"

A long silence followed, neither one saying anything as Sakura began to feel a bit of guilt while Tsunade searched her own feelings. _Damn it all if I don't know where she's coming from. How long did I rage about losing Orochimaru to darkness and madness? _She sighed loudly and stood up, removing her light jacket.

"Alright Sakura." she began, seeing her face brighten at what looked like the Hokage getting serious. "You've got too much aggression in you, I'm out of practice, and neither of these are good for either of us. C'mon, we're going to go a few rounds. Maybe I can beat some sense into you, or maybe, just maybe, you'll beat me and realize that even with that kind of strength, you still can't do it all alone."

Sakura pulled on a familiar pair of gloves, enjoying the feel of them stretching tautly. She found it comforting and reassuring in a way, as though it reaffirmed her strength. She fell into a readied stance, her hands coming up in front of her and clenching into fists. "Don't hold back." she demanded.

Tsunade readied herself, gathering her chakra around her and into her fists. "I don't intend to." and flung herself at Sakura, true to her word, with enough force to shatter a mountain. The pink-haired girl ducked to the side, slapping the side of Tsunade's arm with a chakra-infused hand to stagger her sideways before lunging in with a blow to the side. Tsunade caught the fist with her other hand, their chakras cancelling each other out so only the basic impacts of fist on palm were felt by either.

The two leapt away from each other, recovering their balance before Sakura went on the offensive. Tsunade deftly dodged or cancelled the blows, passing up a few openings to strike her back. _She's so ferocious, she's giving up opportunities and attacking when she should be more careful. She's too obsessed with winning and being hostile._ Tsunade saw an opening that was glaringly wide and took it, landing a blow that sent Sakura hurtling backwards.

Surprisingly, she landed on her feet after tumbling with the momentum. She coughed once and wiped it away, checking to see if there was any blood and smiling when there wasn't. "I told you not to hold back!" she yelled and lunged in to attack once more.

_She's faster now! _Tsunade thought, surprised that the blow would only spur her on and having to react more quickly to stop her hits. _I wonder…_ she waited for a good opening and again delivered a blow, Sakura smashing into a pile of supplies from the impact. She sprung to her feet, and this time when she wiped her mouth she saw the smear of red on her glove. Tsunade hesitated, wondering if she had gone too far at the way Sakura trembled a bit.

"Yeah… that's it…" she muttered to herself more than anyone else, and she started to run towards Tsunade. Dashing erratically only to jump at the last moment, pouring energy into her fist and delivering a diving punch. "Take this!" she shouted, clearly enjoying the fight.

_Shit!_ Tsunade was forced to lunge to the side, dodging desperately out of the way of the blow that cracked and broke the ground under its impact. _That would've killed me if it had hit. She's serious about this… but is she getting stronger because she's being hurt or is she giving in to her inner darkness too? Either way, we can't keep this going too much longer!_ Tsunade resolved herself to the fight just in time to dodge a flurry of attacks from Sakura. She swerved out of the way where she could, attempting to cancel out the ones she couldn't dodge. She felt her skin break a little bit, the impacts not entirely being mitigated. _She's putting way too much into this, this has to end now!_

Tsunade made to catch a blow but instead let it slide past her hand, she saw the surprise on Sakura's face and took advantage of that moment of vulnerability. She grabbed Sakura's arm as it passed her and twisted into a spin, throwing Sakura past her. _I've got to be sure_. She thought, unfortunate as it was, that if she tried to 'throw the match' Sakura may well wind up trying to kill her or at least severely wounding her. She moved in a flash, suddenly in front of an upside-down Sakura as she flew through the air. Tsunade delivered three quick punches and a kick that slammed Sakura out of her fall and into the ground. The pink-haired girl coughed up a mouthful of blood and Tsunade felt a horrible pang of guilt, but knew she didn't have a choice.

"There!" Tsunade said, wiping the sweat from her brow with her forearm. "Now, hold still, I'll heal you up." She said, concentrating slightly to fix the damage she'd sustained first. Sakura made no reply, staring up at the clouds, practically staring through them. When Tsunade started to lean down to help her up, talking as she went to try and keep things calm. "Look, if you bottle all of it up, you get sloppy like that. You can't just keep it all caged inside and let it out at anything you don't like. Quit repressing it all, I mean, you care for Naruto right? You really like him," she said as she began to heal her, "but you don't let him think it was anything but a Sasuke-related ruse. Stop cheating yourself out of anything you want by obsessing over Sasuke!"

She realized she'd gone too far moments after she said it, but it was too late. Sakura slapped her hands away roughly. "You just wanted to prove how weak I am!" she nearly cried, "you didn't want to help at all, you just wanted to remind me I can't do anything!" Tsunade started to object but Sakura dragged herself to her feet, shoving away from the older woman, and ran away, not waiting to hear anything else Tsunade called after her with.

Tsunade sighed. "Oh Sakura…" she felt awful, not sure how to help, or if she even could. Sakura was so deep into her own problems she refused to let anyone else bring her out of it. _I'm going to need to have you watched… for your own good. Ironic… you wanted Karin observed for security risks, but now I've got to set people to watch you to keep you safe… from yourself if necessary._

]][[

Naruto walked confidently through the streets, drawing a few glances at the 'hero' but most people were too busy repairing the town and trying to return it to a familiar level of normalcy. He was headed towards the Hyuga manor, having finally resolved his issues and decided how he was going to handle things. _I just hope they go how I've envisioned them, I'm not sure how I'll deal with a curveball in this._ He started to feel a bit doubtful and hesitant, but shook it off quickly. _Why is the number one unpredictable ninja trying to become predictable! No wonder everyone told me to get this all sorted out. I'm already starting to not act like myself!_

He kept walking, his mind continuing to cook up different doubts as he determinedly quashed them. He was feeling the jitters of confronting not one, but three separate girls; each of whom he had different kinds of feelings for and each one was one he liked. At one point when he was even beginning to feel the pressure too greatly he had groaned, "Can't I just fight a few more Akatsuki members instead?" He was convinced that a drawn out battle against a monster would be simultaneously easier and less painful.

In mid-complaint, he felt a sudden pang of chakra nearby. "Sakura? Granny-Tsunade?" was jerked out of him before he could stop himself, immediately concerned for both. _That was both of their chakra's… but I can't tell who they're fighting… _his stomach turned with a bitter possibility that drifted through his thoughts. _They're… fighting each other? But this feels too strong for that, even in training this is too much._ He couldn't feel anything past that initial pang and that worried him all the more. "Sorry… Hinata… wait for just a bit longer. I need to do this first." he said aloud, reaffirming it to himself as he closed his eyes and slowly stilling his movements.

Moments later, his eyes flashed open with his sage-mode fully activated. He glanced around, even though the chakra was all but gone, his suddenly enhanced abilities let him hone in on it. With the location fixed in his mind, he suddenly relaxed, letting his nature chakra dissipate and sage mode fade away. "Ino is with her, I don't have to rush…" he didn't confess that he also didn't want her to see him in sage mode… given the last thing he'd put it to use for around her.

]][[

The silence of the room was oppressive. The black-haired girl sat in a posture of meditative relaxation, but her features seemed to be straining under intense concentration. Veins throbbed around her eyes as she activated the technique that was the signature skill of her family. Even with her eyes closed now, she could 'see' entirely around her for a truly large distance. She used where she was in the Hyuga's enormous estate as a measuring point for herself; if she was near the center, by testing how far she could 'see' she could measure the range of her Byakugan ability.

_I can't let another incident like that happen. Not just for him, but for the pride of the Hyuga family… _she wasn't used to thinking that way, _but a near-death experience…_ _Or did I really die?_ she had never been quite sure about it. _Still, it has a weird way of giving you more insight, you see what's really important to you._ She mused idly, remembering that Naruto had not yet even responded to her confession. _He probably doesn't feel the same way…_ she started, resolving herself to not get upset over it like she always did. _But that's okay… I just wanted to tell him how I feel…_ unfortunately her efforts were not entirely successful and a single tear rolled down her cheek.

"You know, when you cry while using Byakugan, it can get extremely uncomfortable and weaken the effectiveness of the technique." A young girl's stern voice interrupted her internal monologue that had in-turn interrupted her training.

"Hanabi…" she began slowly, in a calm and friendly voice tinged with frustration.

"I challenge you! I have exceeded your abilities and will become the pride of this noble family. I will surpass even Neji's talent!" she declared, readying herself in the Gentle-Fist posture in front of her older sister as she yelled her challenge.

Hinata stared at Hanabi for a long moment, nearly a whole minute before she put a hand to her mouth and started to giggle when she saw the corners of Hanabi's mouth twitching upwards into a smile.

"Damn! I thought I had you!" Hanabi cursed, already out of her stance and now laughing as well.

Hinata managed to stifle her giggles long enough to respond, "you were so serious! You'd have actually got me, but…" Hinata pointed to her eyes with one finger, "I could see how hard you were straining not to smile."

Hanabi flopped down on the floor, landing unceremoniously on a cushion "No faaair! The one time I'm gonna pull it off and you just have to be using your Byakugan already! I'm serious 'bout the eye thing though, if you keep that up while crying they itch like crazy and it doesn't go away for hours."

Hinata's stifled giggles came back in full force, Hanabi joining in because Hinata's giggle was too cute not to be contagious as well. It was a few minutes before either girl resumed talking. The two had long since come to a friendly understanding with one another. Given the nature of the clan, they both used to endure endlessly harsh regiments of training. Now, however, with Neji's status as an unmatched prodigy, the clan heads had grown far more lenient and no longer attempted to compete with him through Hinata or Hanabi to make them the strongest Hyuga. As a result, the idea of Hanabi and Hinata being in deathly feuds over who was the strongest, had become more of an inside joke to the two of them.

Slowly, Hinata rose to her feet and walked towards an open courtyard. Hanabi followed quietly; because, despite their feud becoming an inside joke, they still enjoyed sparring… it was a more fair fight than attempting to train with Neji. They stopped, facing each other and bowed gently.

"Best of three?" Hanabi smiled, slipping into the Gentle Fist posture. Hinata nodded, assuming her own. "Then let's begin on the usual cue…" she said and both concentrated as they closed their eyes, waiting for which one would act first.

An intolerable stillness and silence passed for a few moments until Hanabi lost patience and her eyes flicked open, fully activated with the Byakugan bloodline ability of their family. Hinata's own eyes slowly opened, her Byakugan activated in response to Hanabi's as she immediately began deflecting blows from her younger sister. Hanabi had the advantage, for the most part, of her youthful energy as well as her small frame allowing her to take advantage of openings Hinata couldn't, just like it reduced the size of target spots available to Hinata. Of course, Hinata had not only experience and reach, but something else that seemed to be rebuffing Hanabi each time thus far.

Usually the two were mostly even, Hanabi being able to launch a ferocious attack against Hinata's timid personality that would lend her the necessary advantage against her older sister. Today, however, Hinata was responding to it calmly and seemed utterly confident in her abilities. Two rounds later, Hanabi angrily shouted, "best out of five!" only to lose another round shortly afterwards.

"No fair! When did you get so strong? Did it happen during that invasion thing?" Hanabi whined, having never been told how close she'd come to being an only child, the family had forbid Hinata to share that detail until Hanabi was 'ready'.

"Hmmm," Hinata replied, thinking carefully, "you could say I did. More accurately, keep fighting. I'll explain as we spar, it'll make more sense then." Without hesitation, Hinata charged towards Hanabi, suddenly pressing the attack instead of being purely defensive and counterattacking. The younger girl was hard-pressed to keep herself in the fight at the sudden change in Hinata's familiar fighting style.

"It's not about being the strongest." Hinata began, speaking in a calm rhythmic tone that fit into her fighting style as though it were the music accompanying a dance. "Fighting without purpose only breeds hatred and without purpose you become lost in conflict." Hanabi attempted to listen carefully, but was forced to consider the words first with her subconscious rather than fully contemplate them or else she'd take another hit. Although they were sparring, a solid hit from the Gentle Fist style always hurt, no matter how much anyone held back while using it. Strangely, however, Hanabi realized that this was forcing her to hear and understand Hinata before she was allowed to reply or interrupt her. "Strength comes from goals." She continued, knocking Hanabi down with a powerful blow only to wait until the younger girl rose to her feet, unwilling to back down from the fight and knowing that if she were to give up now, her older sister would stop talking.

Hinata smiled warmly and proudly, confirming Hanabi's guess as the two resumed their sparring, its intensity growing greater with every moment as the younger girl poured everything she had into it. "Even a goal as simple as becoming 'superior' can lead to unimaginable strength. This was what drove Neji to be the greatest Hyuga." Hanabi knew that well enough, Neji was a terrifying opponent even in sparring matches, his talent was unrivaled in all the Hyuga clan. She dodged a blow and listened for more that she knew was coming.

"It's belief." Hinata threw a blow that Hanabi dodged, the sound of their expelled chakra creating shrieking noises as it was dodged or deflected, still her voice remained calm as she fought. "Having something to believe in will make you the strongest you can be." Hanabi realized suddenly that on this subject, Hinata was rapidly increasing her ability as though the speech was empowering her; and if this was Hinata's full potential, then she might actually be able to give even Neji a challenge. "Even Neji learned that courage and belief can conquer anything." and with a single blow sent Hanabi sliding backwards in a guarding posture at least seven feet.

The younger sister nodded slowly, seeing the power that currently radiated from Hinata. The calm but phenomenal strength even while she had a warm smile on her face. "I hope that makes sense to you." and bowed gently to her little sister as she let her Byakugan fade and her placid expression return.

Hanabi did the same and said, "You win, I can't measure up to that. You have the same expression Naruto had when he defeated Neji in the Chuunin exams." She saw Hinata blush a bit, but that was normal when anyone mentioned 'him'. "I remember thinking that it'd be impossible for Neji to lose that fight. Then I saw Naruto's face and just… well, I just knew. Even without the Byakugan I could see the absolute determination he had." Hanabi saw her sister nod, realizing that Hinata had seen that expression on Naruto more than she had.

"He's the person I want to be. That's my goal. I want to be able to protect everything dear to me. I want to be able to say I'm a ninja every bit the same way he is."

Hanabi smirked at Hinata's statement, deciding she'd had enough of 'serious Hinata' and wanting to get her blushing and flustered. More of a consolation prize for her having been so soundly defeated. "Do you like him?"

Usually this made Hinata red-faced and unable to do more than squeak a reply. Today, however, Hinata only made an embarrassed smile and replied, "Yes, I love him very much. He's important to me, even though I don't think he feels the same wa-" her sentence was cut off as Hanabi delivered a leaping kick that sent Hinata sprawling.

"Owww!" Hinata groaned, rubbing where she'd been kicked and staring with a confused look at her younger sister who was currently gritting her teeth angrily.

"You get all confident and strong out of nowhere and then you just give it up before you even know? If he's everything you want to be, then why are you so quick to think he wouldn't want to be with you? Better yet, be like him and accept that things don't always go your way. I've heard about all the business with Sasuke, and Naruto was the one who let him get away! It eats him up, but he doesn't just write it off, isn't he _still_ trying to bring him back?" She paused to catch her breath, the first time she'd stopped since she began her angry rant. Hinata tried to speak but Hanabi cut her off, continuing to yell despite being the only two present.

"What would he say if you gave up so easily? He'd tell you to keep trying! Look at him, if he gets beaten, he just jumps back at it twice as hard! Look, just tell him you like him, if he doesn't feel the same way about you then who cares about him anyway? Don't fall apart and lose who you are because if he doesn't love you then he's an idiot and you deserve someone much better!" As she finished she stood, panting for breath, and red-faced at how hard she'd been yelling.

Hinata stared in shock, and slowly rose to her feet. "Heh…" she began with a bit of a giggle, covering her mouth, "Hanabi, you know, you may just be stronger than me in the long-run."

Hanabi shook her head rapidly, "No way. Nope. Not a chance. You're the one who stood up to Neji and to Pain." She saw Hinata's face turn pale, _Good luck keeping that my older sister pretty much died from me like some kind of secret!_ she thought with a fair bit of scorn, having beaten a few of the other members of the clan until they revealed what half of them were extremely inept at hiding. "You fought both of them knowing the kind of foe you were going up against. One without remorse for killing… you went to fight knowing you'd probably die. I don't have that kind of conviction." Hanabi started to sigh, having been unable to meet Hinata's surprised and horrified face and feeling a bit of guilt for having gone to the trouble of finding out before Hinata could tell her.

The sigh was completely interrupted by a sudden hug from her older sister. Hanabi hugged back somewhat timidly, it was an unusually fond gesture from her normally reserved and shy sister. Hinata whispered into her ear, "When you find the one for you, you'd be amazed at just how far you'll go just to see them smile in your direction."

]][[

He had arrived at the park, it was deathly still and Naruto wasn't quite sure why he found that so unsettling. _These places used to be so full of life, instead there's only a few tree saplings growing back, nothing to rustle in the wind. Wonder when it'll get back to the way it was._ He found that thought ironic: 'the way it was', was hardly something you could ever get back to. _What I'm about to do is proof of that beyond anything else_. He noted with a grim seriousness.

He saw, on one of the benches, the familiar figure and hair of Ino, sitting close to the bowed form of Sakura whose head was in her hands and shaking gently. Naruto sighed seeing that she was, or at least had been, crying. He took a deep breath and walked closer. As he got near, Ino looked up and saw him. He heard her say something to Sakura about coming back in a few minutes.

She walked towards Naruto, staring at him for a moment before her face lit up a bit. "She's not doing great," she whispered to him as she walked past him, "but it's good to see that look on your face. That's the 'hero' everyone is talking about and the Naruto I remember." She patted his shoulder once, as though she wanted to say more, but left without another word.

Naruto walked towards the bench Sakura was on, trying to start a conversation a few times between him and the girl who had not yet even looked up. Each time he opened his mouth, nothing came out. Finally he managed, "So what happened?"

Sakura lifted her head and stared at him for a long moment. It was a hard stare, full of rage and despair, agony and helplessness. He found it hard to believe this was the same Sakura, he'd never seen her this genuinely conflicted and upset with no one but herself it seemed. She finally responded, "I'm weak and it is destroying everything I care about."

Naruto sat next to her and shook his head. "You're not weak, you just think you are supposed to do everything. You can't. Not even I can do everything alone. Without Chiyo I wouldn't have saved Gaara. Without Jiraiya I would have been taken by Akatsuki right after the Chuunin exam that Orochimaru attacked." He stared at her hard, "Stop trying to do things by yourself and you'll see. Sasuke did this too, he wanted to stop Itachi all by himself and look where it got him."

She hiccupped a few times, trying to control herself from sobbing more at the mention of 'him', and started to reply, "…but"

He shook his head firmly again. "Sakura, I won't tell you not to want him back. I do too. I know you still have feelings for him. The same kinds that you can't bring yourself to accept that you have about me too." He leaned back just a bit, staring upwards, he found it helped him keep himself collected… it was harder to cry at that angle too.

A strangled noise of protest escaped her as though she wanted to lash out angrily, but couldn't in the face of the certainty with which he'd said it.

Naruto continued on, "I care for you Sakura. I always have and there's nothing you can do that will stop me from always caring. You were my first crush-"

"Naruto, you-" she tried to interrupt, tears slowly spilling down her cheeks onto her lap where her hands were clenching and unclenching, but he spoke over her.

"Please, let me finish, if I don't, I'm not sure I'll ever be able to say it all." He sighed, _I can't let her talk, she'll start to respond to it and be hopeful, if she takes it the wrong way, it'll destroy her._ "Like I was saying, you were my first crush. I wanted nothing more than to call you my girlfriend… I can remember all the things I did and still never got noticed over Sasuke as anything more than a bother. I even impersonated him once just so you'd look at me that way; but I realized that wasn't ever really meant to be on the day you came to me and begged me to bring back Sasuke." He saw her shoulders start to shake, as though she was torn between being shocked, laughing, and outright sobbing.

"Despite all that, it was good in a way." A tear ran down his cheek unnoticed by either as he spoke. He saw her visibly tense at that and continued quickly before she could scream at him for it. "What I mean is, I realized what we all are. What you and Sasuke are to me. I didn't feel like my love was being spurned anymore. You two, and Kakashi even as well, you were my first family…" another tear fell quietly. He hadn't realized how difficult it would be without her interrupting him even. "Team Seven will always be that for me… and I'll protect it from anything, even myself if I have to."

Sakura stared at him, speechless at the way he was pouring his heart into what he was saying. She wanted to reply that she wanted more, _But what can I do? He's right… I've never given him any of the things he's deserved or would need to feel that way about me too._ She sobbed once slightly, trying to figure out what she could say; but he kept on before she could even begin to know where or how to reply.

"I love you like a sister, and I always think of it now as bringing our brother back to Konoha. I wish I could be more for you, be what you want me to be, but I'll always be there for you when you need me. I'm sorry, I can't be anything more than that though…" He made it clear he was finished by hugging her, tightly, even as she started to cry uncontrollably. She didn't even really hug him back, just sort of sagging into his arms and bawling all her pain. She kept trying to reply with things explaining how she was "torn between the two of you", "I don't want to keep loving him", "doesn't want to lose him", and more. Naruto kept holding her and apologizing, unable to do much more for her and angry at himself for it.

Several minutes passed, Sakura's crying subsided into slow sobs, her half-attempted explanations having faded away. Naruto remained silent, thinking better than to try and disturb her for the moment. A finger tapped his shoulder. "Hey, I think we should switch." Ino said, and Naruto nodded, slowly separating from Sakura and letting Ino take a position similar to the one he'd had of hugging her. Ino smiled over her shoulder at Naruto and whispered: "Thanks, I hope it'll help her move on, for now though, you should probably get going."

Naruto walked away, not looking back, straining from the effort of keeping himself facing forward. He didn't want to see Sakura crying anymore and knew he couldn't do anything else at the moment… and the few tears that ran down his face he didn't want seen by anyone. _I'm already upset enough that I can't be there for all of them in the way they want, and in some cases… need… from me, I have to be strong for them and for myself._

]][[

Naruto silently plodded towards the Hyuga and his next unwanted, but necessary, encounter. He wasn't in a hurry to do what, again, he had to; but he did feel more confident about it. _Maybe this is what it feels like to be a Hokage… having to know that people will be hurt because of your decisions. Having to tell them to do things you know will cause suffering. It isn't all glory and looking cool; there are bitter elements in everything, no matter how badly you try to ignore them._ Despite his thoughts being somber, Naruto actually smiled. He felt he had matured quite a bit and the understanding he'd gained was something that he felt would only make him a better Hokage in the end.

He arrived at the Hyuga manor while sorting out his thoughts and considering his options. Surprise and a flash of doubt took the smile from Naruto's face _How have I already walked so far?_ he thought, not entirely sure he was ready for it. His hesitation had him looking uncertain and unconfident, but he forced a friendly expression back to his face. _No, I didn't come this far and resolve myself to this only to ignore her again. I've done that for long enough, it's gotta stop here and now._ Naruto nodded once, more to himself than anyone else, and knocked on the large doors before him.

After a few minutes, the door to the open sections of the compound surrounding the large main building creaked open slowly. Naruto turned to face the opening and saw the familiar features of Hinata. He opened his mouth to say 'hi' only for her to let out a choked noise that was part gasp part squeal before the door slammed closed again. _Ah. Guess everyone was right on that one… Hinata used up just about everything she had to actually even say what she did to me. Although… it's funny, this same shy angel is the one who stood up to Nagato…_

He was about to knock again when the door opened again. "Uhm-m-m… H-h-hi Naruto…" She barely managed to whisper. "What can I, I mean, why are you… uhhhh… I mean, do you want to come in?" Her face was a light shade of pink that Naruto found endearing and adorable, the sight of which only further heightened his sense of anxiety about it all. He nodded and she showed him in, leading him to a spot in the courtyard near a small well-kept fountain pond.

Naruto stared around, having never been inside such a luxurious place, even its courtyard far exceeding what Naruto usually experienced in regards to living conditions. He shook his head gently in surprise and disbelief: _Again, I'm somewhere I always wanted to be and when I'm finally there I wish I wasn't._ "Good," he said aloud, "I had wanted to speak to you alone."

Immediately Naruto realized he could have worded that a bit better when he saw Hinata's face go from pink to a deeper shade of red. "No! Not like that," he began, but corrected himself, "well, kind of like that, only-" he paused, again realizing his bumbling through this had her near-fainting. She had her hands on her face, looking at him between her fingers as she tried to both simultaneously hide her face and pay attention to him. "Aaahhh… how do I say it… I need to talk about 'us'." he finally managed.

The hands slipped from her face and the blush faded. She stared off into the distance, not really seeing anything but not meeting his eyes. Naruto hung his head almost shameful for what he had to do next because he could tell that she realized why he'd come and that she no longer seemed optimistic about it. He hated that he had to prove her right. He started to explain himself, as best he could, to her.

"Hinata… I won't even lie… I want to love you. You deserve every bit of it and more, and in a way, I do, but…" he sighed loudly, trying to stall to word his statement better. "I honestly, and I know this sounds horrible… I hadn't really thought about things that way until you said them."

Hinata turned, and quietly asked, "But… I barely saw your reaction to what happened to me… but I saw it. How could-"

Naruto knew the question was coming and answered before she could struggle to word it properly. "Hinata, you're the first person to ever tell me that they love me. You're also my friend. I'd say one of my best, in fact." Naruto saw her smile at the memories, and kept at it. "The truth is, I admire you. You do everything I do even without having this," he put a hand over his stomach, right on the seal, "inside you to let you cheat and succeed at it. You've faced down situations without having such a powerful thing helping you cheat and survive them."

Her eyes widened a bit, shocked at his confession of admiring her instead, unsure how to reply to it at all or where it came from. "Think about it…" he said quietly, looking away from her. "It's kind of why I fought so hard for your cause against Neji. You should've beaten him, and if it wasn't for this monster in me, I wouldn't have been able to stop him." He shook his head violently. "I know I inspire you, and I don't want that to change. I didn't want to tell you that a lot of my ability to do what impresses you so much, isn't entirely my own."

"No-" she began, attempting to cut him off, but he spoke over her.

"I want to keep you safe, and I don't want you to lose the role-model I've been to you-" He said, but this time Hinata's voice found strength and cut him off instead.

"No! That's not it! It wouldn't change anything if we were together… and I want to tell you right now, you're wrong. My eyes are every bit as good as Neji's and I'll tell you what they see. They see the energy of that monster, but the heart of a good man. You might think it's only because of the Nine-Tails that you could defeat Neji, or Pain, or any of them… but you're wrong. It is because of you that you could defeat them. Because you never give up even when everyone else says you should."

Naruto stared in awe at her, she'd gotten outright angry at how he'd downplayed himself and that was unusual for her. "But in the end, the most important thing to me, is keeping you safe. All the times you do things either emulating me or making me notice you get you badly hurt. It's…" Naruto felt his eyes tearing up, he cursed under his breath, not wanting to show how much it really got to him. "It's not easy to bear that kind of responsibility."

Hinata giggled a bit, catching Naruto off guard entirely, she saw his reaction and replied quickly, "You're so silly sometimes… you think I'll stop being like you just because you're not interested in me in 'that' way? Besides… it's funny to hear the man who wants to be Hokage talking about having trouble with responsibility."

Naruto stared blankly for a moment and then reached up to scratch behind his head in an embarrassed 'you caught me' kind of gesture. "Well, I didn't say I couldn't bear it, but I put you in harms way too much and I don't want that. I don't want my best friends getting hurt so much entirely over me!" He saw her crestfallen face, realizing how he'd mostly shot down her efforts to persuade him out of his decision. "Hinata, I'm not trying to hurt you, I just wan-"

"Okay." she cut him off unexpectedly.

Naruto blinked in surprise a few times and opened his mouth to reply but she held up a hand to stop him, putting it over his mouth gently. "It's okay. I'll let you go. I can see it won't work out, not right now at least, anyways…" she sighed softly, no noise coming from her but the gesture obvious. She took another deep breath and held it before letting it out. "But there's a condition." she finally added.

Naruto nodded, still dumbstruck and unable to reply.

"The condition… is… uhm…" she started to blush, her two fingertips coming together and pushing against one another. "It is… ah…" her face turned further red, her lips trembling, "to umm…" she stammered, barely able to form words at this point she was so nervous. Finally she just closed her eyes and almost-shouted "Iwantonekiss! likeyoumeanit!" she blurted out, so fast that Naruto wasn't entirely sure what she'd said.

He stared blankly at her for a few more moments, wondering just what it was she said before it finally clicked. He paused for a few minutes, wondering just how much effort it had taken her to get that out. She was still nervously playing with her fingers while he tried to overcome the shock of such a request coming from Hinata of all people. He finally found the words to reply to her: "Are you sure? I mean… wouldn't that make it… worse?"

She shook her head slowly and whispered, as though afraid to speak louder again, "No, I want to know what it's like or I won't be able to move on. I'll spend every moment forever wondering and I can't live with that kind of thing always hanging over me. You should understand what I mean, right? I promise if you do this, I'll move on." Her earlier talk with Hanabi was actually giving her the strength to keep at this. The conversation had helped her get over the 'end-of-the-world' mentality that would normally have accompanied this kind of thing in her mind. She smiled at him knowingly, and he realized despite his doubts, this wasn't something he could try and convince her out of. He saw the honest sincerity that she had - arguing with her would be pointless and cruel.

"Okay, for you, I'll do it." He said, already regretting it but feeling like his choice in the matter was already made for him. _If it helps her get over me, I can't deny her that. It'd be too cruel. Besides, I owe her this much at least. I mean, she really is the first one to actually say that and actually mean it._ He shook his head, _What the hell am I talking about like this is some kind of money transaction? She wants me to kiss her! Can I do that? Can I really do that? Of course I can, but should I?_ Naruto's mind raced through possibilities and meanings, he'd agreed to something very serious without really considering it. Now, belatedly, he was considering it and realizing she may be more at peace with this than he was.

What really drove that point home was the way she turned towards him with her eyes closed and trembling with nervousness. _No going back now. You gave your word!_ His mind rallied itself to what he saw and realized that he had to do. He leaned towards her, and then gave up trying to go for that impossible angle and turned to outright embrace her. Her eyes shot open in surprise even as he closed his own eyes, holding her tight as he pressed his lips to hers. It was soft, Naruto couldn't believe how soft her lips were, their warmth was overpowering and the smell of her was intoxicating as he held the kiss longer still. He felt her hands wrap around him gently, holding him lightly even as he powerfully gripped her. The kiss dragged on and on, Naruto uncertain of when to stop or if he wanted it to stop while Hinata never wanted it to end. After the unbelievably long kiss, which had only lasted a few moments in reality, the two separated slowly. Naruto released her from his embrace and she shrank back a bit, a tear slowly sliding down her face. She appeared diminished and relieved at the same time, almost drawing strength from the act itself it looked like.

She wiped it away with a sudden flick of her hand, hoping he hadn't noticed it. Neither one spoke for several minutes before Naruto finally broke the silence just as Hinata tried to. "I hope that helps yo-" he began.

"Thank you, that's what I-" she said at the same time. Both stared at each other for a moment and then laughed a bit. They each had a flushed face, though Hinata's was far a deeper blush than Naruto's.

"You'll be okay, right?" He stood up, almost as though it would help him shake off the sudden sensations burning in his body and maybe distract himself from them. He bobbed a little bit in place, nervously, _Is this how it always felt being around her? This is kinda unusual, I've never been so comfortable but nervous at the same time._

She stood up and faced him, and he saw an expression he hadn't seen on her since the incident with Nagato. "I gave my word that I'd be fine, and I will be." She held out her fist, a gesture so unmistakable that Naruto was forced to respond to it the same way. It was, after all, his gesture. The very same he'd taken towards Neji and the very same posture he took whenever a situation evoked his utter conviction. He suddenly realized what to say, and she nodded once, as though reading his mind.

Together, the two of them shouted aloud: "**We** will never give up, **we **will never run away, **we **will never go back on our word! That is **our** Nindo! **Our** Ninja Way!"

]][[

Nearly an hour later, Naruto walked the streets of Konoha feeling a storm of emotions like he had when he resolved himself earlier that day; now, however, he was at the eye of the storm. It hurt, what he'd had to do with Hinata and Sakura, but his encounter with Hinata had reaffirmed his decisions. He still worried about Sakura, but Hinata he knew would be okay. He felt calm, relaxed, and altogether confident in himself. "Thank you, Hinata." He again muttered aloud, having already done so several times since had left her home. He resolved himself to help her however he could and whenever she needed it. _If anyone has earned and deserves all the happiness they can get, it's her. Konoha's bravest and shyest angel_.

Naruto kept walking, he was looking for the last one. The only one he had good news for… and hopefully had good news for him. He was nervous about that particular bit, extremely anxious to hear how she would reply. _I did the right thing though, by telling the others first. I won't just play both sides, waiting to get turned down before I turn down others._ He nodded his head, a small "mmm." of agreement with his own thoughts coming from him. As he walked, he realized one all important fault in his plan - _I don't know where to find her…_

Without letting that deter him, he kept walking onwards slowly, hoping to run into Iruka or her before too long had passed. After nearly another hour, the sun was setting and Naruto was starting to grow despondent. The confidence he'd gained from his talk with Hinata had faded and even the anxiousness of the last talk he knew he had to have was dwindling away. He stared up at the Hokage monuments, considering again if this kind of scenario was a usual thing for them. _This is what it must feel like, sending teams out to do missions that may get them hurt. You worry, you wait, you worry and wait more, does it all wear them down? Is that how they are able to stomach it so impassively? Did the Third or my Father, the Fourth, have to endure this kind of thing? _Naruto kept musing, wondering on it again as an interest for his future. Despite the fact that he constantly and brazenly paraded his desire to be the next Hokage, Naruto knew better to think of it only as a simple thing of being 'the best'.

_It has a lot of difficulty to it, a lot of different angles. Seeing friends and allies hurt… sending them to get hurt even! Forcing myself to hurt Sakura and Hinata for the good of everyone involved really did open my eyes on this one. You guys,_ he thought, looking at the monuments again,_ didn't have it easy, did you? I wonder if the Uchiha clan endured one too many forced hurtings…_ Naruto reflected on the 'past' that the masked man had told him. He again wondered how much of it was true, how much of it was a lie. He'd researched into it a bit, but unsurprisingly the documents were sealed and what he could get to was cryptic beyond measure. _Something to ask Shikamaru about, if anyone could figure it out, it'd be him_. Naruto grinned, he knew his friend well enough to know they wouldn't turn down a simple enough request… after a little effort and motivation of course. Shikamaru was, after all, notoriously lazy when unmotivated.

Naruto decided that he might have to wait until tomorrow to actually speak to the final girl, turning to head back to his room, when a glint caught his eye. "Huh?" He turned sluggishly, his energy for the day mostly spent on emotions and introspective thoughts. He stared up and realized he'd been looking at a person sitting on the monuments. He'd only thought it was a blemish of some kind in the stone. Naruto was surprised, he thought he was the only one who ever went up there. _Well, better at least see who it is… _he mused, having nothing better to do at the moment and wondering if he'd have a better chance to see her unmistakable hair color from higher up.

]][[

She sat hugging her knees, folded up on herself gently and cursing her own hesitation. After a long internal struggle, Karin had resorted to using her sensory technique to locate Naruto, but had dismissed it quickly because she didn't want to appear desperate. _Not that anyone can tell I'd be using the technique! And not that I'm desperate! Gah! What is wrong with me?_ She mentally berated herself for dropping her sensory abilities too soon more than anything else. She'd realized, almost without surprise, that Naruto was the one atop the monuments; but when she arrived, he'd left. She didn't know how long he'd been gone from up there because she had dragged her feet as she went. She was reluctant to start up that particular confrontation.

Unfortunately, rather than finding relief in his absence, she'd only grown more and more flustered. At first she'd thought to use the time to rationalize things, to collect her thoughts. Her goal was to come to a dignified and reasonable dismissal of these powerful feelings she was having. It had not had the desired results; instead of rationalizing away the feelings, they'd only grown embarrassingly stronger. Eventually she'd even thrashed about in an extremely embarrassing fashion, glad there was no one around to have seen her far-from-elegant display of frustration and confusion.

The only conclusion she came to, in the end, was to sit there. She figured the place was comforting to her, and she needed that at the moment. _It's a great view… even when this place is damaged it is a sight to behold. I like it here. Warmth. That's the real big thing. I forgot what it really felt like… superiority, rank, power, all of those things don't have much merit without warmth and happiness. _She sat quietly, her arms now resting on her knees instead of hugging them for reassurance. Her chin was lightly balanced atop her arms. Despite her inner thoughts raging wildly around a dozen and a half different concepts, her outward appearance conveyed a calm peacefulness.

]][[

Approaching from behind, Naruto was shocked when he realized who it was atop the stone faces of the previous Hokages. The red hair was unmistakable and Naruto couldn't help but grin, _Is she that much like me that she comes up here when she needs to think too?_ He doubted it, but the thought made him smile anyway. He wasn't sure what to say yet, so he quietly walked towards her without alerting her to his presence. _Odd, a sensor-type can be so wrapped-up in her thoughts that she misses such an unhidden presence as mine… _

No sooner had he thought this, of course, than she startled and turned towards him, an angry expression no her face as though she were about to scream at whoever was bothering her solitude. A moment later, the expression had vanished to be replaced by a blush that tried to match her hair. She opened her mouth to say something… and paused, closing it again. Again she tried and again she closed her mouth without saying anything. After an awkward silence of what felt like hours but was more likely only a minute, she managed a: "…hey."

Naruto smiled _Was she always this cute? She's acting almost like Hinata…_ Naruto's smile vanished and he realized now was the worst possible time to be thinking about other female friends. He expelled those thoughts from his mind and realized he hadn't responded to her yet, so he quickly blurted out: "Hi."

She smiled at his stumbling reply, and quickly shook her head, _Oh my god, why is even a 'hi' making me smile? _she thought, uncomfortable with her sudden display of uncontrollable vulnerability. _Maybe because you knew he'd come back up here and you'd wait forever for that?_ Her conscience chided at her and her internal argument kept going for a little while. Even while she slowly lost the battle about how happy she was he'd "come to her" and not the other way around in end, she tried her best to carry on conversation. "How're you holding up?" she asked while her mind raged at her emotions.

"I'm okay, it's been a long day, I'm just glad to see you." he sounded as confident and self-assured as she'd seen him since he spoke to Sasuke.

She was embarrassed at just how appealing that confidence was to her. "Why was it a long day?" she replied, stalling for time.

Naruto sighed and took a deep breath to explain himself, readying himself for how bad he felt this was going to sound. "I was clearing things up with people. Explaining to them where they stand with me and where I stand with them. I couldn't bring myself to let things go in any direction more than they already had." He closed his eyes and breathed deeply again, obviously rallying himself against a lot of emotional memories that threatened to overwhelm him.

"Hm?" She was a bit confused, but didn't want to show it, "What do you mean? Why?"

"Because I know what direction I want things to go in-" he said as he stepped towards her.

Overwhelmed by the confidence and his step toward her, she lost her internal mental battle and interrupted him. "Naruto… I… I…" he watched her with a sudden intense interest, she closed her eyes and scrunched up her face with the effort it took to say it, but managed to whisper: "I like you."

Naruto's eyes widened and his expression went to one of shock, he hadn't expected it to be mutual or even guessed she'd want to say it first. When she opened her eyes, he was still in a state of awe that turned her face a shade of pink. She struggled on through it, not content to leave it at just those three words. "I really mean it, at first I thought it was this hero-crush thing, or maybe because you saved me even! But then I thought about you more and more, I couldn't get you out of my head, and then you saved me from Sakura… you keep saving me. I look at you and I see everything good in a person and I kept comparing you to Sasuke, and I didn't want to, but it just happened. You two are so much alike but you're such opposites at the same time! I had a crush on him, he was handsome and sexy, but this is different I don't just feel like that around you! Wait! No no, I mean, you're handsome and sexy too, but-Ah! I just meant that you've got more going for you than just looks, and well, I like you, I really do, I'm always thinking about you and I was so happy that I had an excuse and a reason to spend more time with you because of that training thing and I don't want it to end after that!" She had worked herself into practically crying, her sniffles punctuating parts of her rant trying to explain herself and somewhat 'justify' her position to him.

"I like you too." He replied, a smile full of happiness and compassion on his face as he said it.

She kept on her ranting having not heard him or registered his words in her mind yet, tears welling up in her eyes as she did. "I understand if you don't like me. You only met me what, a month ago? Not even! I know it's sudden, you probably don't even care and that's okay, I don't even know why I feel this way so suddenly either. It's just… it's just… wait…" she stared at him, her mouth agape. "You… you do too?"

He closed the distance on her even more, her face going as red as her hair as he wrapped his arms gently around her. "Yeah, I do. You accepted me when we first met and that didn't change at all when you found out about my 'secret'. You keep helping me, when you're around, my head is clear, I know what I want. I want the beautiful red-haired Karin that I see before me." He moved in closer to kiss her. Tightening his embrace until their bodies touched, the warmth of them palpable in what little space remained between the two of them.

Karin was panicked at the mix of emotions at play in her. There were still tears running down her face but now she was sure they weren't from being upset anymore. Now she was nervous and overwhelmed, but she couldn't bring herself to ask him to stop, instead she blurted out: "This is my first kiss!" managing to yelp it as he got closer still. As much as it embarrassed her, she had hoped it would avert what she saw coming, or maybe it would at least lower any overpowering expectations he had of her. _And why do I want that? Shouldn't I aim to impress him instead? I should-_

A second later, it didn't matter. Naruto pressed forward, heedless of her outburst, and pressed his lips to hers. The softness of her lips was a wonderful sensation and he breathed in her scent when he remembered to breathe, only furthering his intoxication in her. He didn't break the kiss even for a moment, he only continued to move his lips against hers, pressing one kiss after another on her. Naruto's mind was blank, everything other than the sweet smell of her, the warmth of her body against his, and what felt most important to him: he could hear and feel her heart beating rapidly against his own.

That same second later, Karin was struggling in his embrace for a reason she didn't even understand. Struggling wasn't even really the appropriate description for it, she more accurately squirmed in his grasp; finding it difficult to outright surrender to the sensations. She wasn't sure how to react, it was so sudden that she clenched and unclenched her hands at her side. After only a moment of kissing him, however, she felt any apprehensions vanish without a trace. Her arms came up around him, lighter than his embrace, but still tight and now clenching a handful of his jacket in each fist. She lost herself in the kiss, taking in every detail with an acuity that put her sensory techniques to shame. She felt a strange tingling in her entire body, as though a small electrical current ran through it. She couldn't focus on just one aspect of him that she liked, she was completely immersed in it and enjoying every bit beyond any comprehension or guesses she'd had moments before. He felt safe, he felt warm, moreover, it was the happiest she'd been since… since… she couldn't remember ever feeling this much delight at a previous moment of her life.

The kiss went on and on, smaller extra kisses being pressed into it that Karin didn't even consider to be 'separate' at all. This was all one new sensation to her and she was surprised in the urgency with which she threw herself into it as well. She'd never known anything like it, whenever his lips withdrew from hers, she pressed in against him tighter. Kiss after kiss the two shared; tentative at times and aggressive at others.

After several minutes, the close embrace broke, Karin's face flushed completely and her lips trembling while Naruto's expression one of dizzy giddiness. There was a long silence between the two before they thought to break their embrace. Instinctively, Karin threw out her hand and caught Naruto's as he let her go. Her expression making it abundantly clear that 'holding hands' was not optional at the moment.

_Oh my god, was that…? It felt like… I think it was…_ Karin struggled inside herself to make sense of everything that had just transpired, her free hand touching her trembling lips. _Will they stop trembling after that? I don't feel like they'll be still without his against them anymore! _She stood, awestruck while Naruto simply stared at her with a tender smile on his face and a sparkle in his eyes she hadn't noticed before. _Why's he looking at me like that! It's only making me feel more strange and embarrassed! I should-! _and then she felt a great relief from it all. A sudden an enthusiastic lack of concern for trying to figure it out. She could do that later, for now, the warmth in her hand and the smile on his face were all that mattered.

"Karin…" he whispered to her.

"Y-yes?" she replied equally quietly, not sure why she was whispering but feeling it was appropriate; as though something desperately secret had just happened. _But why does the idea of it being a secret make me feel less happy about it?_

"You look beautiful when you smile, really truly smile." He said it in a small voice, as though it were meant for her ears alone.

The comment made her avert her eyes, embarrassed but still grinning like an idiot about the whole thing. "H-hey…" She tried to stammer out a question but only got that far.

"Yeah?" He had moved closer again, he was holding her in his embrace again and both of them seemed extremely content as she slowly nuzzled against his chest, leaning into him.

_When did I get so dizzy?_ she mused, but managed to speak up, louder this time because, in her current state she thought she had to speak over his heartbeat _and my own!_ for him to hear her. "Can I try my technique? I'm… I'm curious. I want to know what this looks like and feels like with our chakra."

Naruto giggled a bit, earning a very stern disapproving look from her as she pulled back slightly before he clarified: "Sensing our chakras? It isn't even our first date!" He chided as he laughed.

Karin, for all her desire to be angry for his terrible pun, was won over by his contagious laughter and only lightly socked him in the chest to get him to stop. "I'm being serious…" she protested lightly, as she returned to her previous position in the close hug, unwilling to give it up over a bad joke.

"I'm sorry, go ahead."

Her eyes had already closed just to focus on her other senses so close to him, so she had only to release her technique again instead of focusing . _Oh my god! _she clasped a hand over her mouth to stop her gasp.

"What's wrong?" he asked, the concern and worry evident in his voice.

She stopped her technique a moment later and disentangled herself from his embrace. "Ah…" she tried to begin, scratching the back of her head in an absentminded gesture she'd unknowingly picked up from him. "…your chakra is kinda…" she weakly began, but saw the completely confused look on his face. "Naruto, has your chakra ever flared up before?"

"Umm, a couple of times?" he replied, adopting a posture similar to hers.

"Well, let's uh… let's say normally you're like a candle's flame." she started, holding up her fingers to give a clear size estimate.

"Okay…" he replied, not entirely following her.

"Right now, you're more like the sun." and she pointed to the nearly-faded sunset. He tilted his head, slowly taking in what she'd said before his eyes widened.

"Does that mean my inner darkness is gone?"

She hung her head. _So much for him getting what I meant._ She shook her head. "No, it's still there, just somewhere very remote. Right now your chakra and energy are so radiant I think ninja four villages over would notice it without try…ing…" She paused for a long moment.

"Karin?" he asked, slightly confused by her pause.

_Four… villages… over… would notice… it?_ "NARUTO!" she ran forward and squarely slammed a hand into his head. He gave a sharp 'ow' and she kept whacking him repeatedly. "Quick quick quick!" she yelled in a hushed voice, "put it out! Put it out! Everyone's going to notice it!" Unfortunately, Naruto had no idea how to 'put it out', especially when he could only smile up at Karin acting like he'd seen her before when flustered and called on something she found embarrassing.

"Karin!" he managed to get her to pause her assault with his use of her name.

"Huh?" she asked, poised to deliver another strike and having stopped halfway.

"Did you know you're even beautiful when you're angry?" He beamed with delight at this comment.

She hesitated for a moment, blushing under the compliment before she realized it only made him _and me too, dammit_ happier and so she resumed her attack, trying vainly to suppress the overwhelming joy pouring from him… and her too, but she didn't bother admitting that her chakra was also glowing radiantly with her own delight.

]][[

Elsewhere, in a dark room barely lit by a few half-heartedly flickering torches, a masked man sat on a throne. His arms were set so that his hands were folded in front of him with his fingers threaded together. Another presence made itself known, slipping slowly 'out' of the wall, as though it had been one with the stone a mere second ago. The newcomer was 'half' a person split from top to bottom, the other half appearing as though it had been melted off. It was an entirely white body of a spongy, strange material, with spikes protruding from its waist in an unorganized pattern. It opened its mouth, "Sasuke is stable. He will be able to use his new power in a week or so."

The masked man smiled, not that any could see it, but he couldn't contain his excitement. "We'll have to move him soon then. While he's still unable to fight the decision. He's a stubborn idiot, that one, and I don't want him in a position to go rampaging again unless I'm directing it." He leaned back, resting his hands on the armrests of the throne this time. The darkness hid everything about him except one red eye full of greed and contempt that could faintly be seen reflecting the dim torchlight from behind his mask.

In a sudden flash of motion, a third figure joined the two. This one appearing using the traditional doorway and so a ways in front of the two already present. The newcomer wore a robe, but it bore the symbols associated with a cobra. "Madara Uchiha." it said, as though determining this was, in fact, the right place. "This was a pain to find, do you know how well hidden you are?" the voice under the hood teased.

"You…!" the white half-man angrily complained.

Silence came from the masked man that the newcomer had spoken to; until, a moment later, he finally spoke: "Don't mess with me, wretched spawn of Orochimaru. Crawl back to your egg and pray the shell will keep you safe without your parent-serpent."

The hooded man smirked and threw back his hood, revealing a face covered by scales and other snake-patternings around his eyes. A large white snake coiled protectively out from the bottom of his robe as he did so. "Knew it was me, huh?"

"How could I not? Kabuto, you are easily recognizable, ignoring the fact that this eye of mine cannot be deceived." the masked man replied casually and uninterestedly even while the white man held himself still despite his outrage at their lair's invader.

"Well, I'll get straight to the point then. I brought you a gift." Kabuto smirked, the snake in his robe depositing two bodies onto the ground. Neither bore any signs of life anymore, but one was unmistakably a Konoha ninja, the other was from Kumogakure.

"Get to the point."

"I know you received intel from your defeated ally. Unfortunately, it is wrong." Kabuto waved his hand at the bodies in front of him. "These two were carrying false information to corroborate it. Kisame was defeated, the information he sent to you is outdated. I'm sure you've heard about that giant turtle island where they planned to take the two remaining jinchuuriki?" He didn't wait for the masked man to reply, assuming he was right already. "They aren't there. It's a trap. If you go there, you're only wasting your effort and energy."

The man sat up in the throne. "But you know where they are, I take it?"

Kabuto grinned wickedly, "of course I do. Do I have your interest yet?"

"What do you want?"

"I want Sasuke. The last living Uchiha aside from yourself." Kabuto brazenly declared.

"and if I say no?" Madara replied, leaning forward to reveal his mask. The act startled Kabuto visibly, he had not expected the mask to bear a repeated circle-pattern matching the pattern of the legendary Rinnegan eye dotted with the markings of a Sharingan as well, and to see that one of Madara's eyes was now, in fact, the famed Rinnegan. "I see you've noticed it. Don't dare underestimate me, you abomination. I'm nothing like anything you've ever dealt with before; even in your twisted experiments."

"If you say no, I can always help **against** you." Kabuto replied blithely, "Frankly, I'd rather be on your side. It seems like the winning side. Of course, I can always help the other side… there's this experiment I've been running, it finally paid off. It's really neat," he paused, making sure he had both of their attentions, "I can neutralize the First Hokage's cells."

"WHAT!" The white creature shouted in outright anger and surprise.

"Silence Zetsu." Madara commanded. "Interesting," he was slightly surprised behind his mask, _Orochimaru you bastard, how much did you really know?_ He clapped slowly. "Alright, we'll figure out the specific terms now then, consider me curious. We'll figure out what happens with Sasuke later." He stood up and walked forward a few steps. "In the meantime, you are going to show me what you're bringing to my side of things. Hold anything back and I assure…" he glared angrily at Kabuto, "I'll pry everything valuable out of your soul and leave your lifeless husk where none shall find it with these eyes of mine!"

Kabuto bowed his head low, "…so it begins." is all he muttered under his breath.

]][[

In absolute darkness in another room, a figure lay silently on a bed. "Brother… your power was incredible… I hope you will be able to see our deserved revenge and the revival of our clan…" Sasuke held a hand above himself, towards the ceiling he could not see. He tensed momentarily and lightning danced around his hand. "…so much strength… and it's still growing…" He lowered his hand and placed it over his face in thought. _Naruto… let's see even the beast within you overtake me now._

]][[

_The terrors of Akatsuki have begun to move, but what else stirs? The Sound of Defeat!_

]][[

**Well this the story , My story starts here…..**

**Thanks D-Sparil.**


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